Plant Defense Mechanism Plant Interaction Plant-made Pharmaceuticals

There is no botanical hospital. Does a plant own a weapon?

Unlike animals, plants are sessile organisms, which are not able to move by themselves. They do not have wings to fly nor legs to walk. However, plants are anywhere, and they are transported from an area to another area with the help of a disperser, or a pollinator. The dispersers/pollinators can be rain or wind, or it can be organisms like insects, animals, and humans. The wild nature is about being prey and predator. Prey […]

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Botany Taxonomy

What is your name? – Plant taxonomy

What is your name? You get an immediate response out of a crowd whenever calling somebody’s name. We establish connections and start bonding with each other by our names. However, plants can never respond by calling their names. But still, plants are meaningful to us, such as rose is love, lotus is enlightenment, tea is refreshment, rice is fertility. We learn the names of Plants through books, friends, and the attached “name tags’ from supermarkets […]

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Botany

The corpse flower, the giant inflorescence in the world – Amorphophallus titanum

The largest flower is Rafflesia. Do you know what the largest inflorescence in the world? Yes, the answer is Amorphophallus titanium that is commonly known by the public as the corpse flower. Amorphophallus titanium is the largest inflorescence consisting of a sizeable encircling bract or known as spathe, purple from the center of which emerges a fleshy spike tiny flower. It is categorized as monoecious in which the male and female flowers arranged in a […]

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Culture Horticulture Houseplants

The flower of Mother’s Day

The flowers that dedicated to mothers on the coming Mother’s day are carnation, representing the deep love and loyalty to mothers. Scientifically known as Dianthus sp., consists of around three hundred species, carnation is a meaningful flower choice with a long history. The name dianthus can be translated to “flower of love” or “flower of the gods”. It’s mostly found in Europe and Asia, a single species is found in Arctic North America and a few extending […]

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Conservation Parasitic plants

The stories of the biggest flower in the world, Rafflesia

The largest flower in the world, Rafflesia (Rafflesiaceae), however, is from a small obligate endo-holoparasitic Asian plant genus. Although famous for its huge flowers, it’s a rare species and only lives in a small and special area that is high island endemism. This genus is classified as a member of Malpighiales, and native to tropical Southeast Asia, mainly found in Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. There are roughly 30 to 37 Rafflesia species that are […]

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Botany Morphology Taxonomy

A flower or an inflorescence?

A flower is the reproductive organ of flowering plants. After successful pollination via self- or cross-pollination aided by pollinators, the flower turns into fruits or seed pods. However, the “flowers” are not always called flowers, sometimes they are referred to as inflorescence. What are the differences and relationships between a flower and an inflorescence? A flower, known as bloom or blossom is the seed-bearing part of a plant that consists of reproductive organs like stamens […]

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Horticulture

Plant propagation – grafting

Grafting involves two plants of closely related species. It is done by uniting the young part of a plant such as an axil, terminal bud, or young shoot into other plants of the same species or genus. The stock plant is the lower part (or mother plant), and scion, which is the bud or shoots that will be growing on the stock and bear fruits. Grafting has the benefits of combining the best traits of […]

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Agriculture Horticulture Propagation

Plant propagation – vegetative propagation

Vegetative propagations or asexual reproduction are frequently used in horticulture or agriculture to propagate economically valuable plants and cash crops, especially the perennial species that produce sterile or no seeds. Asexual reproduction does not involve the union of gametes, production of seeds or spores, and changes in the number of chromosomes, which often used single cells (algae), tissues, organs, or specialized organs that undergo structural modifications. Regeneration through somatic cells, tissues, or organs is also […]

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