Around 4,000 plant species from different parts of the world secrete nectar outside their flowers, such as on their stems or leaves, through secretory glands known as extrafloral nectaries. Unlike ...

We tend to think of plants as passive, vulnerable actors. But in their partnership with insects, it’s plants that often play the leading role. Sometimes, this can get pretty surprising. As evening ...

Peking University, May 6, 2025: The research team led by Qu Lijia and Zhong Sheng from the School of Life Sciences and the Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences has discovered a conserved "two-step ...

Some of nature's most diverse pollinators often go unnoticed, even by scientists: long-snouted beetles called weevils. A new study provides a deep dive into the more than 600 species of weevils, ...

A new paper in Annals of Botany, published by Oxford University Press, indicates that pollination can have a dramatic effect on how plants grow and change. The study shows that when plants and ...

Ancient plants called cycads say “come hither” in infrared. By Sofia Quaglia If a plant wants to reproduce, there are a number of tricks it can use to lure a pollinator insect. It can display gaudily ...

Since the time of the dinosaurs, cycad plants may have attracted insects using infrared light. It may be the world's oldest form of pollination. Rhopalotria furfuracea beetles pollinate the cones of ...