Everyone knows that it is important to have the right tools for the job, whether collecting plants in the field for scientific research or cooking them in the kitchen for dinner. The same is true for digitisation: converting physical objects into data and images which can be stored digitally. In recent years, there has been a push for natural history and museum collections to be digitised. Biological museum collections hold organisms gathered by explorers, some centuries old, from around the world. While some of these curiosities may be displayed for the public in exhibitions, the vast majority will be waiting behind the scenes, for their moment in the spotlight. 

Digitisation offers an opportunity to thoroughly catalogue each artefact, any information that comes with it, such as labels relating to its origin and identity. Digitally documenting a collection of physical objects in this way is a safeguard against catastrophic events, such as the fire that decimated Brazil’s National Museum in 2018, or objects going missing, as the British Museum experienced in 2023. Aside from the collection oversight this allows, digitisation makes collections accessible to those who cannot physically travel to see them and creates new opportunities for research and art on a scale that is impractical without a repository of digital data and images. So how does one go about digitising a botanical collection? 

Botany One spoke to Dr Heather Cole, Biodiversity Data Manager for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s (AAFC) Biological Collections. Cole is actively involved in promoting and supporting the digitisation of AAFC’s collections and bio-resources, including developing and implementing standards for image and data capture, storage, and sharing. During the six-year Biological Collections and Data Mobilization project, Cole and her team photographed up to 2,000 herbarium specimens per day, amounting to over 600,000 specimens imaged during the course of the project. 

Digitisation often starts with a deceptively simple question: how do you capture the specimen in the first place? What equipment and software did you use for digitisation?

I consider digitisation in two broad categories: imaging and data transcription. At DAO (AAFC’s National Collection of Vascular Plants), we use two different setups for imaging herbarium specimens. One is a high-throughput conveyor belt system made by Bioshare Digitization, which includes integrated software to automate the conveyor and camera. It uses a 50mm macro lens with either a Canon EOS 5DS R or a Nikon Z7 II camera.

The other process, based on the New York Botanical Garden’s model, is a manual “lightbox” approach. It uses a camera shooting through a hole in the top of a table-top box, which illuminates the specimen from above and three sides. For the lightboxes, we use Canon EOS 5D Mark II/III cameras with a 50mm macro lens mounted on a copy stand. Similar setups can be replicated with good surround lighting. Currently, the DAO herbarium uses Specify as its collection management system. Whenever possible, data from specimens is transcribed directly into the database; if that is not possible, we use spreadsheets, following Darwin Core standards for data structure.

But taking the image is only the beginning. Once specimens have been photographed or scanned, the real value of the digital collection depends on how the data are structured, checked, linked and made reusable. How did you manage the data, including metadata, and quality assurance?

These aspects of digitisation are challenging. They take tools, expertise and time, which are not always available, and it can be hard to find the balance of integrating existing resources with future or ideal states. For our imaging processes, we do a colour calibration at each workstation to ensure that specimen colours are as close to realistic as possible, but to streamline our workflows, we do not adjust the camera settings for each different specimen. A visual review of each image can help detect quality issues. We embed AAFC ownership, copyright, and licensing into the metadata of each image file, which also includes the camera settings used for the picture, as well as the date and the name of the person logged onto the machine. For data transcription, we provide training on how to interpret label data and spot-checks are performed by senior technicians. When importing data from spreadsheets into our database, quality checks include reviewing spelling for taxonomy and geography, as well as formatting for dates and geographical coordinates. With specimen data, we record the name of the person who transcribed the data, the date of transcription, and the relevant protocol or project. In our current citizen science workflows, three different volunteers transcribe information from each specimen, which significantly improves confidence in the data quality.

Fluent in both English and French, Cole is enthusiastic about advancing data-driven decision-making and fostering a culture of innovation within her group. What is one thing you wish you had known before you started digitising your collection?

Don’t use spreadsheets for data transcription! It may seem like the simplest solution, but unless you have dedicated people and software for reviewing, cleaning, and importing data into a database, it quickly becomes a problem. There are many free collection management software systems available, and even a general-purpose database can often be configured to suit your needs. Even though choosing, setting up, and learning to use a proper system may take longer initially, the benefits are enormous. Purpose-built databases or collection management systems offer more reliable, consistent, and scalable data management functionality, making it easier to maintain and access your data as your digitisation efforts grow.

With all this experience to hand, Cole advocates for best practices for digital data management and has implemented successful citizen science projects which continue to enhance access to AAFC’s biodiversity information. Her efforts in managing copyright and licensing considerations have further advanced responsible stewardship of AAFC’s data assets. Furthermore, her commitment to Open Data and Open Science initiatives reflects her dedication to transparency and collaboration in scientific research.

Cole’s advice brings digitisation back to its foundations: good images matter, but good systems matter just as much. A successful digitisation project needs equipment that fits the collection, data standards that make records reusable, and workflows that can keep growing without collapsing into a maze of spreadsheets. Done well, digitisation is not just about photographing specimens. It is about making collections easier to manage, share, study and protect for the long term.

Guest Writer Profile

Magda (she/her) is a British/Polish ecologist currently based in London, UK. Trained as a field ecologist, she made the pivot to herbarium digitisation and curation in 2023. This has taken her from Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, to the South London Botanical Institute, and she will be joining Trinity College Dublin this autumn.

Cover image: A specimen of Dombeya burgessiae from Kew’s herbarium that underwent digitisation (http://specimens.kew.org/herbarium/K004979670)

Some plants hide in plain sight. They are not necessarily small, dull or hard to recognise, but they live in such specific places that few people ever get the chance to see them. Vellozia sessilis is one of those plants.

Vellozia sessilis is a member of the genus Vellozia, a group of plants found only in the American tropics. In Brazil, species of Vellozia are popularly known as canela-de-ema, thanks to their resemblance to the legs of the greater rhea, a big bird locally known as ema. Many grow in rocky, nutrient-poor highland environments such as campo rupestre, where shallow soils, strong sunlight, drought and fire create difficult conditions for plant life. These same environments are also centres of endemism, home to many species that occur nowhere else.

In the field, Vellozia sessilis can look deceptively grass-like. It is a cespitose plant, forming dense clumps on rocky substrates, and its narrow leaves can make it resemble grasses or small bamboos when not in flower.

This species is known only from the Chapada dos Veadeiros region of Goiás, in central Brazil. There, it grows in high-altitude grasslands and rocky savannas, usually above 1,000 metres elevation. These landscapes are part of the Cerrado, one of the world’s great biodiversity hotspots.

For many years, Vellozia sessilis was known from very little material. It was described from specimens collected at Serra da Baliza in 1979 and 1995, near the town of Alto Paraíso de Goiás. A later herbarium record revealed another population at a farm about 8 kilometres south of Serra da Baliza. Beyond that, no additional collections were found in major Brazilian herbaria.

That made the species a conservation concern. With only two known locations and continuing habitat deterioration, Vellozia sessilis had already been classified as Endangered in Brazil. But a recent study, led by PhD student Bianca Schindler, set out to fill some of the gaps. The researchers combined field surveys, herbarium data, citizen science, species distribution modelling, satellite estimates of habitat loss and seed germination experiments to build a clearer picture of the species and its conservation status.

The search revealed more than was previously known. The study recorded six populations of Vellozia sessilis, including two discovered with the help of citizen science. These records show that the species is still highly restricted, but they also show how useful local observations can be when scientists are trying to find rare plants in complex landscapes.

The story of Vellozia sessilis is not only about one threatened plant. It is also about the difficulty of conserving microendemic species: plants with extremely small ranges, often tied to very specific soils, elevations and habitats. These species may be well adapted to harsh rocky environments, but that does not make them safe from habitat loss, land-use change or other pressures.

Chapada dos Veadeiros is famous for its waterfalls, rocky plateaus and open Cerrado landscapes. It is also one of Brazil’s important centres of plant endemism. The rediscovery and improved documentation of Vellozia sessilis show why these highland landscapes deserve close attention. Sometimes, protecting a species begins simply with finding out where it still grows.

Cover image: Vellozia sessilis. Photo by maguelaguia (iNaturalist, CC BY-NC 4.0).

Here's a round up of the top 20 papers you've been sharing this week on Bluesky. Papers behind a paywall are marked 💰otherwise they're free to access at time of checking.

1. The controls that got out of control
Schneider, A. · EMBO Reports · Score: 388

How would you define science to a lay person, considering that ‘science’ includes highly diverse disciplines? My answer would be that all these disciplines share a common foundation, called the ‘scientific method’. It provides a universally valid framework, enabling anyone, regardless of scientific or cultural background, to arrive at the same conclusions when analyzing the same data. Unlike faith, which is highly subjective, the scientific method offers an objective, systematic approach to uncover facts about the natural world.

'If a control experiment fails, does that mean that the entire experiment is poorly designed and you must restart from scratch? Often, yes— but not always. I present five examples where failed control experiments triggered entirely new fields of research.' link.springer.com/article/10.1...

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— Thiago Carvalho (@cyrilpedia.bsky.social) 12:41 · May 31, 2026

2. Melatonin seed priming: A climate‐smart, green strategy to enhance abiotic stress tolerance in plants
Raza, A. et al. · Journal of Integrative Plant Biology · Score: 326

Enhancing crop tolerance to multiple abiotic stresses is critical for achieving sustainable agriculture. Targeted seed‐stage interventions using natural signaling compounds (e.g., melatonin) provide a unique opportunity to establish early stress tolerance that can persist through the critical seed‐to‐seedling transition. Melatonin seed priming (MSP) is rapidly emerging as a green and climate‐smart strategy for enhancing plant stress tolerance. MSP triggers defensive molecular, biochemical, and physiological reprogramming during germination, thereby improving plant performance under subsequent stress conditions. This review synthesizes recent mechanistic insights into how MSP confers stress tolerance across diverse species by modulating redox signaling, hormonal homeostasis, and stress‐related gene networks.

Happy to share our 🆕 #OpenAccess article " #Melatonin seed #priming🌱: A climate-smart, green strategy to enhance #abiotic stress🌡️❄️🧂🌊🫧 tolerance in plants🌾" is out in @jipb.bsky.social @wileylifesci.bsky.social🎉😍 Congrats to all authors👏 🔗 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... #PlantScience

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— Ali Raza (@aliraza6.bsky.social) 11:35 · May 30, 2026

3. Anticipate, acclimate, recuperate and remember: How spatiotemporal signal integration controls flooding stress resilience in plants 💰
Rodriguez-Cisneros, C. et al. · Journal of Experimental Botany · Score: 286

Flooding is a major abiotic stress that restricts terrestrial plant growth and survival. A plant tissue’s ability to avoid or sustain critical oxygen deprivation (hypoxia) and subsequent re-oxygenation damage is vital for its survival. Submergence triggers rapid ethylene and hypoxia signalling that in turn control acclimation responses, promoting plant resilience. Interestingly, an extensive range of additional environmental and internal factors were shown to influence these canonical signalling pathways associated with flooding acclimation and tolerance. Here, we discuss how such integrative ethylene- and hypoxia-dependent signalling enables plants to anticipate and prepare for potential flooding-induced hypoxia stress, fine-tune acclimation according to the environmental and internal metabolic context, and effectively orchestrate re-oxygenation responses.

Excited to see our #plantscience review published in @jxbotany.bsky.social! It really captures our lab’s perspective on how plants use spatiotemporal signaling under environmental contexts when floods occur, to coordinate acclimation responses and achieve stress tolerance. doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...

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— Sjon Hartman (@hartman-plantlab.com) 15:21 · Jun 2, 2026

4. Harmala alkaloids regulate cell division planes in plants
Diehl, K. A. et al. · bioRxiv · Score: 238

Here, we investigated the effects of the harmala alkaloids on plant growth and cell division using Arabidopsis thaliana as a model system. Of the harmala alkaloids, harmaline was identified as the most potent compound for root growth inhibition. Quantitative live cell imaging demonstrated that harmaline exposure causes progressive defects in cell division orientation and root cell morphology in a temporal manner.

(1/11) Excited to share the brand-new cell division preprint from the lab! In this manuscript, chemical biology (in a collaboration with @rnett42.bsky.social Ryan’s lab) meets the cell biology (our lab). Harmala alkaloids regulate cell division planes in plants www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

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— Arif Ashraf (@aribidopsis.bsky.social) 19:15 · Jun 3, 2026

5. Molecular mimicry of a pathogen virulence target by a plant immune receptor 💰
Gómez De La Cruz, D. et al. · Science · Score: 200

Plants and animals respond to pathogen attack by mounting innate immune responses that require intracellular nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat (NLR) proteins. These immune receptors detect pathogen infection by sensing virulence effector proteins. However, how receptors evolve new recognition specificities remains poorly understood. We found that the plant NLR MLA3 (Mildew locus a 3) has evolved to recognize a pathogen effector by acting as a molecular mimic of an effector virulence target, thereby triggering an immune response.

So proud to see this story finally out!🎉 We added new data since our previous preprint—transgenic barley plants with an engineered immune receptor that fights off two fungal pathogens at once. Short 🧵 and link to the original preprint thread on X👇 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

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— Diana Gómez De La Cruz (@dianagdlc.bsky.social) 10:07 · Jun 5, 2026

6. A membrane-anchored inhibitor of papain-like cysteine proteases promotes Pseudomonas root colonization
Moser, D. et al. · bioRxiv · Score: 192

Pseudomonas species, spanning both beneficial and pathogenic lifestyles, possess conserved mechanisms to modulate plant immunity. Nevertheless, the mechanisms by which commensal bacteria establish and maintain host colonization remain poorly understood. Here, we report the characterization of a Pseudomonas chagasin-like protease inhibitor (Cpi1), conserved across pseudomonads representing a novel class of membrane-anchored PLCP inhibitor. Unlike previously described secreted protease inhibitors, P. putida Cpi1 is a lipoprotein localized to the bacterial surface and outer membrane vesicles (OMVs), positioning it to selectively inhibit immune-related papain-like cysteine proteases (PLCPs) during host interactions.

📢 new preprint! How do commensal bacteria establish themselves on plant roots despite plant immunity? We identify Cpi1, a conserved membrane-anchored protease inhibitor in Pseudomonas that promotes early root colonization and modulates microbial community assembly. www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...

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— Johana Misas Villamil (@jomivi.bsky.social) 10:38 · Jun 3, 2026

7. The demonstration of a single origin for nodule evolution, with nodule engineering in a non-nodulating species
Kundu, A. et al. · Score: 176

The nitrogen-fixing root-nodule symbiosis provides a sustainable source of nitrogen for plants within the Nitrogen (N)-fixing clade (NFC). A debate has raged over whether nodulation evolved once, with many losses or multiple times following a predisposition event. Here we demonstrate that nodule-organogenesis is fully conserved between an actinorhizal nodulator Datisca glomerata and the legume Medicago truncatula, showing entirely conserved programmes for Nodule INception (NIN)-controlled development leading to nodule emergence.

The demonstration of a single origin for nodule evolution, with nodule engineering in a non-nodulating species https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.05.31.728964v1

— bioRxiv Plant Bio (@biorxiv-plants.bsky.social) 21:02 · Jun 3, 2026

8. An active Helitron transposon family in wheat
Peng, H. et al. · Nature Plants · Score: 176

Transposable elements play a pivotal role in genome evolution and phenotypic variation in numerous eukaryotic species. Helitrons, a recently identified category of transposons, remain poorly understood in terms of epigenetic regulation and real-time mobilization in plants. Here our study reveals that reduced DNA methylation combined with heat stress promotes the mobilization of the Xuan–Feng Helitron family in wheat.

We just published our new paper about an active Helitron transposon in wheat 🌾🧬 We found that it can be mobilised by heat stress when DNA methylation is reduced. We document its full lifecycle: RNA -> circular DNA -> integration www.nature.com/articles/s41... #TEsky

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— Etienne Bucher 🌾🧬🇪🇺 (@plantepigenetics.ch) 10:47 · Jun 5, 2026

8. Synchronous spatiotemporal control of autophagy and organelle trafficking is necessary for infection by Magnaporthe oryzae
Eseola. A.B. et al. · Cell Reports · Score: 174

The blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae infects plants using an appressorium that generates force to breach the leaf cuticle. Appressorium development follows a cell-cycle-regulated morphogenetic program requiring autophagy-associated death of the spore. How proliferative growth is coordinated with cell death remains unclear. Here, we show that each conidial cell follows a distinct developmental program essential for infection.

Peer-reviewed version of our study led by @aliceeseola.bsky.social first seen on @biorxiv-cellbio.bsky.social showing the exquisite level of control of organelle trafficking & autophagy exerted during plant infection by the blast fungus. Thanks to all co-authors. www.cell.com/cell-reports...

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— Nick Talbot (@talbotlabtsl.bsky.social) 11:42 · Jun 4, 2026

10. TALEs, TALENs, and TALE Base Editors: From Plant Pathology to Biotechnology 💰
Grau, J., Boch, J. · Annual Review of Phytopathology · Score: 138

TALEs (transcription activator-like effectors) are an excellent example of how studying pathogen–host interactions can lead to significant biotechnology inventions. TALEs are bacterial effectors that are translocated into plant cells via a bacterial type III secretion system. We review recent advances in Xanthomonas genomics, synthesize current knowledge about naturally occurring TALEs, and highlight current roles of TALEs in genome editing and synthetic biology.

It's be an honour to write this TALE-review with my long-time friend and colleague Jan Grau 👨‍🔬📗🧑‍💻. It's about both worlds: virulence, genomics 🌾🧫🧪 & genome editing, SynBio 🧬✂️. All figures done by ourselves! Hope you like it. Please spread the news! 📰🥳 doi.org/10.1146/annu...

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— Jens Boch (@mikrobenjaeger.bsky.social) 12:28 · Jun 1, 2026

11. Reversal to osmotrophy in eukaryotes 💰
López-García, P. & Moreira, D. · Nature Ecology & Evolution · Score: 136

New #ISEPpapers by @deemteam.bsky.social! Reversal to osmotrophy in eukaryotes www.nature.com/articles/s41... "Distant eukaryotic lineages convergently reverted from predation to osmotrophy through co-option of bacterial genes and their mobilization via eukaryote-to-eukaryote HGT" #Protists

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— ISEP (@isepprotists.bsky.social) 11:47 · Jun 4, 2026

12. Antagonistic interactions between CLAVATA receptors shape maize ear development 💰
Lindsay, P. L. et al. · New Phytologist · Score: 132

On the cover: Maximum projection confocal micrograph of a developing maize ear primordium expressing PIP2-CFP membrane marker (cyan) and developmental receptor BAM1D-YFP (yellow). Image is courtesy of Penelope Lindsay. 📖 See Jackson et al. nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... #LatestIssue

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— New Phytologist (@newphyt.bsky.social) 13:03 · Jun 4, 2026

13. Assimilation dynamics of xylem-transported CO2 by woody tissue photosynthesis revealed with 11C- and 13C-labelling 💰
Mincke, J. et al. · Journal of Experimental Botany · Score: 116

🍬🌳 RESEARCH 🌳🍬 In Populus tremula branches, xylem-transported CO2 is reassimilated by woody tissue photosynthesis and locally contributes to stem sugar production for growth and energy. 📝 Mincke et al. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/... #PlantScience 🧪

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— Journal of Experimental Botany (@jxbotany.bsky.social) 17:35 · Jun 1, 2026

14. Adaxial–abaxial leaf surface asymmetry is a key ecological driver of the phyllosphere microbiome
Sugimoto, H. et al. · Journal of Experimental Botany · Score: 96

🌿🍃 Upper and lower leaf surfaces host different microbes. Upper leaf degradation pathways. Lower leaf biosynthesis and energy. Leaf asymmetry drives phyllosphere ecology. #plantscience @jxbotany.bsky.social @academic.oup.com academic.oup.com/jxb/advance-...

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— Global Plant Science Spotlight (@plant-sci.bsky.social) 3:34 · May 31, 2026

15. WOX5
expression stimulated by the transcription factor NF-YAc reprograms cortical cells for nodule primordium initiation in soybean
Li, L. et al. · Journal of Experimental Botany · Score: 88

🧬 Editor's Choice 🧬 Soybean nodule primordia are initiated when transcription factor NF-YAc activates WOX5 at a 442 bp legume-specific promoter fragment to reprogram differentiated root cortical cells into a de novo stem-cell niche. 📝 Li et al. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/... #PlantScience 🧪

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— Journal of Experimental Botany (@jxbotany.bsky.social) 13:24 · May 30, 2026

16. Teosinte alleles enhance nitrogen assimilation and seed protein in maize 💰
Huang, Y. et al. · Nature · Score: 80

Teosinte alleles enhance nitrogen assimilation and seed protein in maize From: www.nature.com/articles/s41... #PlantScience Preserving, sequencing, and studying wild relatives of crops still very informative and powerful today.

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— Chenxin Li, PhD (@chenxinli2.bsky.social) 13:11 · Jun 4, 2026

17. Stem nitrogen accumulation through vegetative storage proteins and mobilization to seeds supports high-yielding soybean
Sazon, L. A. R. et al. · Journal of Experimental Botany · Score: 78

🧬 RESEARCH 🧬 Nitrogen accumulation in stems plays a key role in meeting the seasonal N demand of growing seeds in soybean. Selection of traits, and agronomic practices that increase N accumulation in stems can help support higher yields- Sazon et al. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/... #PlantScience 🧪

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— Journal of Experimental Botany (@jxbotany.bsky.social) 17:42 · May 30, 2026

18. GWAS reveal SUBER GENE1-mediated suberization via type one phosphatases 💰
Han, J-P. · Nature Plants · Score: 74

Very happy to see that SUBER GENE1 (SBG1; At1g52565) is now annotated in TAIR and Aramemnon! We identified this gene through a GWAS on natural variation in endodermal suberin and had the privilege of naming it. For those interested, the study can be found here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

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— mariebarberon.bsky.social (@mariebarberon.bsky.social) 14:35 · Jun 4, 2026

19. tanggle: An R package for the visualization of phylogenetic networks
Schliep, K. et al. · Applications in Plant Sciences · Score: 74

From the upcoming #AppsPlantSci Phylogenetic Networks issue tanggle: An R package for the visualization of #phylogenetic networks (by Schliep, Vidal-Garcia, Solis-Lemus, et al) bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... @uwdsi.bsky.social #Rpackage #ggtree #macroevolution #evolution

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— Botanical Society of America (@botsocamerica.bsky.social) 16:34 · Jun 4, 2026

20. Let’s twist again? Resupination failure in an orchid
Cardoso, J. C. F., Oliveira, P. E. · Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment · Score: 72

Thanks to @sylvatica2024.bsky.social I have learnt something new. Resupination is the process by which flowers rotate in the bud. Occurs in 14 different families and aids the landing of pollinators on the labellum. Well I never…. esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

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— Big Meadow Search (@bigmeadowsearch.bsky.social) 7:28 · Jun 1, 2026

Cover image: Arabidopsis thaliana by Josué Amoroso / iNaturalist CC BY-NC

Natural history collections are historical repositories brimming with potential. Not only are plant and fungal specimens fundamental to scientific research, but they also give us insights into the places, people, and times involved in their collection.

Thanks to worldwide digitisation efforts, we now have more power to detangle these stories and give specimens more meaning - and not only for plants, but fungi too! 

Digitisation accelerates the transformation of a collection object into an ‘extended specimen’. By engaging with specimens in biological and social contexts, researchers constantly enrich their accompanying datasets, ‘extending’ their meaning and suggesting future work. Digitisation allows us to bridge collections from across the world, frame specimens in their historical contexts, and tell the stories of under-recognised groups.

Published in Plants, People, and Planet, a new study maps the collector-networks of New Zealand mycologist Greta Barbara Stevenson (1911-1990) to contextualise her fungal collections.

Digitised records from Kew’s Fungarium and the New Zealand Fungarium Te Kohinga Hekaheka o Aotearoa form the basis of this research by Christopher Kreuzer at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Geoff Ridley at Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research (who keeps an excellent blog here), and Nathan Smith at Amgueddfa Cymru National Museum Wales. 

Stevenson was one of the most prolific female mycologists of the last century. Born in Auckland, she received an MSc from the University of Otago and a PhD from Imperial College London. Best known for her five-part Kew Bulletin series detailing and describing New Zealand’s mushrooms (accompanied by her own detailed watercolours), Stevenson named 151 new species. She taught and worked in universities, research institutes, and schools across the United Kingdom and New Zealand, sometimes for long, unpaid stints - she also participated in New Zealand’s first significant all-female mountaineering ascent.

The figure below shows how the authors characterise digitisation as an “archival intermediary”. Stevenson’s specimens were brought into contact with archives and scientific publications, which were used to create a more informative dataset. The authors could then identify collectors, analyse their relationships, and properly quantify their collections.

Stevenson’s ‘first herbarium’, assembled over her early career (1946-1958) and kept at Kew, featured more women collectors than men, whilst her ‘second herbarium’ in New Zealand (1973-1983) was more evenly split between men and women.

Many collectors were Stevenson’s friends and associates, reflecting strong kinship between female scientists in New Zealand. For example, her first herbarium contains specimens from Marie Taylor, from which Stevenson described nine new species. Taylor was another pioneering mycologist who popularised New Zealand’s mycofauna through her guidebooks and illustrations.

After Stevenson, the next most prolific collector in her ‘first herbarium’ was Dorothy Read. Read was a technician at the Cawthron Institute in Nelson, where Stevenson moved in the 1950s. You can see one of her specimens with its label below:

Botanical societies were also hubs of mycological knowledge. Collectors in Stevenson’s herbarium were grouped together based on their membership of societies, which involved amateur and professional botanists alike – Stevenson herself was an active member of the Wellington Botanical Society.

Other collectors were associated with schools, universities, and public courses where Stevenson taught and worked. In their paper, Kreuzer, Ridley, and Smith recognised collectors whose contributions had evaded the literature, allowing their voices to enter the history of mycology for the first time.

Stevenson’s collector-networks generate other questions – how did gender influence natural history collections? For example, as a single mother, Stevenson’s collecting was interrupted when she changed jobs and had to resettle her family. And were there more female collectors in her first herbarium because of wartime?

Stevenson collections show how digitisation does not reduce specimens into one-dimensional online records, but extends them. Stevenson’s specimens are now better anchored in her own biography and output, thanks to corroboration with her notebooks and publications. However, we can also see the wider network around her that brought mycological knowledge into being, including not only women scientists such as Marie Taylor and Dorothy Read, but farmers, students, teachers, and amateur botanists.

A specimen can be linked to collector labels, photographs of botanical societies, newspaper articles, notebook entries, student registers, or other specimens in the world. Digitisation allows these threads of data to meet and generate richer accounts of the collectors, friendships, societies, institutions, and wider historical and geographical contexts that are connected with specimens and scientific knowledge.

Like fungi themselves, many of the stories surrounding natural history collections have remained cryptic, complex, and yet to surface. We can use digitisation to bring together records and make these stories visible. Specimens become part of a much more meaningful history of science, place and people.

You can see some of Stevenson’s collections in Manaaki Whenua — Landcare Research’s Systematics Collections Data website (SCD). Also, explore some of her drawings and handwritten descriptions!

READ MORE:

Kreuzer C, Ridley GS, Smith NEC. 2026. Digitisation as archival intermediary: Quantifying and qualifying Greta B. Stevenson's mycological collector networks. Plants, People, Planet. https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.70173

Guest Writer Profile

Ben is a New Zealand-born, London-based ecology graduate who surveys mycorrhizal diversity as part of the RBG Kew team. He is passionate about natural history collections and excited to spotlight their stories as a Botany One guest writer.

Urban warming is increasingly altering environmental conditions in cities. One major driver is the urban heat island effect, where buildings, roads and other artificial surfaces absorb and retain heat, making cities warmer than their surrounding rural areas. While the effects of this warming on trees, birds and people are widely discussed, smaller and often overlooked organisms are also responding strongly. A new study by Tim Claerhout and colleagues shows that epiphytic lichens and bryophytes, organisms highly sensitive to temperature, moisture and light, can reveal how the urban heat island quietly reshapes urban biodiversity.

The study examined lichen and bryophyte communities growing on linden trees (Tilia) in three Dutch cities. Rather than focusing only on broad contrasts between urban and rural areas, the researchers combined biodiversity data with microclimatic measurements taken directly from tree trunks. This approach made it possible to observe environmental conditions as they are actually experienced by the organisms themselves.

In total, 107 species were recorded across 303 sampled trees, including lichens and bryophytes with different ecological preferences. The results showed that biodiversity does not respond to urban warming in a simple linear way. Lichens were most diverse at intermediate levels of urban heat island intensity, whereas both very cool and very hot areas supported fewer species. Bryophytes, however, followed a different pattern: their diversity increased gradually along the thermal gradient, suggesting distinct ecological responses between the two groups that are often studied together.

Beyond changing species numbers, urban warming also reshaped community composition. Urban areas were mainly dominated by xerophytic, photophilic and nitrophytic species; in other words, organisms adapted to drier, brighter and nitrogen-rich environments, all typical features of modern cities. At the same time, species associated with moister and shadier conditions became less frequent as the intensity of the urban heat island increased.

The researchers also identified 23 potential bioindicators of the urban heat island, including individual species and species associations that reflect different levels of warming in cities. The warmest areas were mainly characterised by acrocarpous mosses adapted to desiccation and high light exposure, such as Orthotrichum diaphanum, while species linked to moister habitats became less common. These patterns underline the potential of epiphytic communities as tools for urban biomonitoring, capable of detecting microclimatic changes in a sensitive and integrated way without relying solely on meteorological sensors.

One of the most interesting aspects of the study was its demonstration that the microclimate perceived by organisms can differ from the broader climatic measurements usually used in urban studies. Sensors placed directly on tree trunks showed that, during summer, mean and minimum temperatures, as well as air dryness, increased in areas with stronger heat island effects, while relative humidity decreased. In winter, the differences were subtler, suggesting that urbanisation effects vary seasonally and interact with factors such as solar radiation, vegetation cover and shading.

The authors also observed that larger trees supported more diverse communities, suggesting that structural features of urban vegetation may partially buffer the effects of warming. At the same time, intermediate areas along the urban gradient tended to host more balanced communities, possibly because these sites were environmentally more heterogeneous.

Overall, the study shows that the urban heat island does more than raise city temperatures: it also changes which species can persist there. As urban warming continues to intensify, lichens and bryophytes may become valuable allies for understanding how cities are changing and for tracking which species can keep pace with these silent transformations.

READ THE ARTICLE

Claerhout, T., Sparrius, L., Keßler, P., and Stech, M. (2026) Urban heat Islands shape epiphytic communities of lichens and bryophytes. Urban Ecosystems, 29(2). Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-026-01930-8.

Portuguese translation by Pablo O. Santos.

Cover Picture: Evernia prunastri is a lichen from less urbanised environments. Photo by Ryzhkov Oleg (iNaturalist, CC BY-NC 4.0).

Have you ever heard of genebanks? They are priceless collections of crop samples around the world. Some genebanks focus on a particular crop, such as bananas in tissue culture, while others might specialise in seeds or a specific method of how the specimens are stored, either in the field or in vitro.

These organisations are dedicated to long-term conservation of crop diversity for future generations whilst also ensuring accessibility to the current generation. In other words, they do not simply store plant material away for safekeeping, but they make it possible for researchers, breeders and conservationists to find, request and use that material. These collections harbour many answers and also questions regarding agricultural biodiversity conservation, plant breeding, global food security and more. 

There are almost 900 genebanks worldwide that house approximately 5.9 million individual collections (or accessions), with more than 2 million accessions conserved only in Europe.

These treasure chests are amazing resources and require constant work and resources to assemble and maintain them, and make them useful. Alongside the physical plant samples, genebanks also need to compile, clean and manage the data associated with each accession so that we can properly interrogate these collections. This now includes increasingly rich “multi-omics” data: information from genomics, phenomics, metabolomics and other approaches that help describe a plant’s genes, traits and biochemical make-up. Linking these data to genebank accessions can greatly increase their value for research and plant breeding, but it also creates new challenges for data management, standardisation and long-term use.

If you have ever bought a plant from a garden centre, you may have noticed a label, barcode or plant passport code travelling with it. That information helps identify what the plant is and where it came from. In genebanks, “passport data” plays a similar role, but at a much larger scale: each accession needs a reliable record of its identity, origin, collection history and availability before it can be found, shared and used.

For our Digital Botany Focus Issue,  Botany One interviewed Dr Stephan Weise, who is coordinating the European Search Catalogue for Plant Genetic Resources (EURISCO), an information system that provides data for millions of crops from more than 400 institutes across Europe.

Could you briefly introduce your background and your current role in genebank data management and in the coordination of EURISCO?

I am the head of the Genebank Documentation research group at the Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK). Our institute operates the German Federal Ex Situ Genebank for Agricultural and Horticultural Crops. My educational background is in information technology. I studied Business Information Technology and completed my PhD in integrative bioinformatics. A key focus of my thesis was on the integration and quality of life science data. These are topics that have since become increasingly important in my day-to-day work. 

In 2014, I was given the unique opportunity of coordinating the European Search Catalogue for Plant Genetic Resources (EURISCO) on behalf of the European Cooperative Programme for Plant Genetic Resources (ECPGR). EURISCO is an aggregator information system that provides a central entry point for information on Plant Genetic Resources (PGR) accessions held in more than 450 European institutes, as well as in several neighbouring countries. 

This involves collating passport data and, to some extent, phenotypic observations [observable traits, such as plant height, seed colour or disease resistance] from more than two million ex situ accessions and in situ crop wild relatives (CWR) populations from 43 countries, which are regularly updated in collaboration with highly dedicated colleagues in the respective countries. The size of the respective collections ranges from a few hundred to more than a hundred thousand samples. Overall, EURISCO provides an important overview of the plant material that is available for research and breeding purposes in principle.

From your perspective, what are currently the main bottlenecks along the pathway from field germplasm collection and initial labelling to accessioning, passport and characterization data curation, permit documentation, the creation of the first digital record, ultimately leading to data inclusion in EURISCO?

The more and the better the available data, the better the plant genetic resources described by them that can be utilised for research and breeding. However, given the already limited time and staff resources in many institutions, working with data understandably often takes a back seat. From a data manager’s perspective, this means that both passport data and phenotypic data are often not available to the extent that would actually be desirable. In particular, the compilation and curation of phenotypic data is usually very labour-intensive. This naturally also has an impact on the data available in EURISCO.

This is where genebank data becomes both powerful and difficult. A single record can tell us what a crop accession is, where it came from and how it behaves. But to compare records across hundreds of institutions, the data needs to be complete, accurate, up to date and recorded in ways that other systems can understand. What are the key challenges and future ambitions in integrating such diverse and varied datasets into a central database such as EURISCO? What can be improved to ensure that accession-level data are both widely available and of high quality, while remaining standardised and interoperable?

Challenges include, for example, filling gaps in data on collections that have not yet been documented in EURISCO, as well as improving the quality of the data provided. Data quality encompasses aspects such as completeness, accuracy and up-to-dateness. My group is currently working on defining a framework of metrics that will enable us to identify quality issues more quickly and comprehensively than before, and thus gradually improve data quality in a targeted manner.

Another key challenge is the comparability of data. In the field of passport data, data standards are in place and widely accepted. For phenotypic data, however, whilst exchange formats do exist, there are no widely adopted standards governing the collection of such data, including metadata. Although there is a wide variety of crop-specific proposals and recommendations, in practice, these have very often been adapted to meet the specific requirements of individual genebanks. This limits the comparability of data and, moreover, makes it very difficult to present data to users of the system in a clear and appealing format. In future, greater efforts must be made to raise awareness among experimentalists and data providers and to persuade them to adhere more closely to existing recommendations. At the same time, new methods for bringing existing data into relation with one another need to be considered, despite all the difficulties involved. This would also help to ensure that PGR [Plant Genetic Resources] data complies more closely with the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable).

The future of genebanks is not only about storing seeds or plant material. Increasingly, it is about connecting those physical resources to digital layers of information: genetic data, trait data, images, observations, provenance, availability and tools for analysis. In a recent paper you authored on the history and mission of the German Federal Ex Situ Genebank, you describe its transition towards becoming a ‘bio-digital resource centre’. Could you elaborate on this concept and what it implies in practical and strategic terms?

A few years ago, IPK decided to gradually transform its genebank into a bio-digital resource centre. In concrete terms, this means transforming the genebank into an integrated scientific and technical infrastructure in which biological material (seeds, tissue, DNA samples, etc.) is closely interwoven with a comprehensive digital data architecture. My research group is playing a part in this. 

This involves elevating existing data to a higher level by comprehensively curating it and enriching it with further information. In addition, data from other domains, such as genotyping data, is increasingly being tapped and linked to traditional genebank data. Tools for visualising and analysing such integrated data are also being developed. All of this is being done to describe plant genetic resources ever more effectively, to optimise their use for research and breeding purposes.

Are there plans to strengthen connections between genebank data and information generated by other types of plant collections, such as in situ conservatories, field collections, herbaria, conservation and restoration seed banks? What would be required, technically and institutionally, to make such integration feasible?

Under ECPGR, for example, work began a few years ago to expand the EURISCO aggregator system so that, in addition to material from ex situ collections, it can now also document material preserved as in situ CWR [crop wild relatives] populations. This can also be extended to other conservation types. From an IT perspective, this is feasible with a reasonable amount of effort. The same applies to linking information from the various fields. A major challenge here, however, lies in the consistent use of unique identifiers [stable digital labels that allow records from different systems to refer to the same accession], without which integration and linking are not possible. Technical solutions exist for this, such as DOIs for plant genetic resources; unfortunately, however, these are often not yet used worldwide to the extent that would be desirable. Furthermore, the major conservation networks are naturally called upon here; they must be prepared to collect and provide the necessary data.

Thanks, Weise, for the great discussion and for sharing your thoughts on the future of genebanks and their data! Conserving and sharing these crop collections, together with the widest possible range of high-quality data for each accession, is key to providing diversity to researchers, farmers and breeders, and ultimately to consumers, to build a more sustainable and productive agricultural system. EURISCO and its efforts to integrate data from genebanks, wild plant populations and phenotypic characterizations are certainly a big step in this direction. 

Genebanks are often described as treasure chests of crop diversity, but this interview shows that the treasure is only useful if people can find it, understand it and connect it to other information. Could this little plant, tucked away in the corner, help breed a more resilient crop? Does it carry useful traits for drought, disease resistance or nutrition? Is it already well documented, or is it still waiting for the right data to make it usable?

This is why databases such as EURISCO matter. They help turn millions of conserved crop accessions into something researchers, breeders and conservationists can actually search, compare and use. They also reveal why digital botany is hard work: the challenge is not only storing plant material, but describing it clearly enough that someone else, somewhere else, can understand what it is and why it might matter.

So, if you have a few minutes, try exploring EURISCO yourself! Search for a crop you eat often, such as rice, wheat, potatoes, or beans. Look at how many accessions are held, where they come from, and what kinds of information are available. The charts and records may look simple at first glance, but behind them is a huge international effort to make crop diversity findable - and to keep future options open for farming, food security and plant science.

READ MORE:

Weise S, Blattner FR, Börner A, et al.. 2025. The German Federal Ex Situ Genebank for Agricultural and Horticultural Crops – Conservation, exploitation and steps towards a bio-digital resource centre. Genetic Resources: 91-105. https://doi.org/10.46265/genresj.gydy5145

Guest Writer

Filippo Guzzon is a plant biologist working on seed biology and genebank management, with a side interest in ethnobotany. He has worked with different organisations across Europe, Latin America and the South Pacific, and he is currently based at the Millennium Seed Bank of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (UK).

Spanish translation by Filippo Guzzon.

Cover picture by IPK Leibniz Institute.

Imagine entering the oldest and most beautiful library in the world. There are no paper books, but the shelves are filled with glass jars holding natural memories. Each one contains the aroma of a landscape: the Brazilian rainforest after the rain or a magnolia hidden among the clouds of Ecuador.

However, there is a silent tragedy: this library is vanishing as nearly 45% of all flowering plants in the world are at risk of extinction. Worse still, three out of four plant species that we have not yet scientifically described are already threatened. We are losing the pages of our natural history before we can even read them. Even if we cannot see the causes, the shelves are emptying.

The fragrance industry is a giant that moves billions, expected to reach a value of 101.47 billion dollars by 2034. This industry depends heavily on biodiversity, using around 2,000 plant species and more than 3,000 aromatic molecules derived from them.

However, historically, this relationship has been complicated. At times, the pursuit of a scent has led to overexploitation or to what we call "biopiracy," where the knowledge and resources of local communities are taken without giving anything in return.

A recent article published in BioScience proposes an innovative solution to this issue through the Red List Project. Instead of acting as a "band-aid" put at the end to clean a company's corporate image, they introduce a genuine "Conservation-First" model.

The Red List Project (TRLP) model intertwines technology and ethics from the very beginning. It all starts with an upfront financial contribution from the fragrance company, which is transferred to conservation partners in the country of origin to immediately jumpstart research and species mapping. This initial investment is crucial because it eliminates the financial uncertainty that usually accompanies the volatile sales of new products. Then, a portion of the revenue generated by perfume sales is regularly allocated to the conservation project, creating a self-sustaining financial pathway that protects threatened species throughout the entire commercial life of the product.

For this process to be truly sustainable, TRLP utilises technologies such as headspace capture, which allows scientists to "sample" a plant's aroma directly from the surrounding air without needing to harvest or damage it. This "digital copy" of the scent ensures that the industry can innovate without resorting to destructive wild harvesting, fully complying with global targets like those of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. In this way, the perfume becomes an ethical link that not only captures an essence but actively finances the survival of the original organism in its natural habitat.

This model is already successfully underway in the real world. For example, in Brazil, work is being done with Alstroemeria caryophyllaea, a threatened plant from the Atlantic Forest. Thanks to a collaboration with a historic perfume house, sales funds help finance local research and fieldwork expeditions to map the remaining populations of this species. Similarly, in Ecuador, the project protects several critically endangered Magnolia species in the Chocó cloud forests, directly linking the commercial success of the perfume to the creation of local community nurseries and regional environmental education programs.

The final paragraph of the article serves as an urgent call to action, reminding us that plant diversity is not just "something beautiful to look at or smell," but rather the literal foundation of our food, our medicines, and even the stable climate we breathe.

We must overcome the historical fear and mistrust surrounding collaboration between science and industry. If approached with absolute transparency and rigorous ethics, choosing a fragrance with this seal means you are doing much more than just smelling good, you are paying a small "maintenance fee" to ensure the world's biological library remains open, alive, and thriving for generations to come.

 READ THE ARTICLE

de Paula, L. F., Smith, R. J., Handley, V., Gomes, T. P., Pinheiro, R. O., Antonelli, A., & Fiedler, P. L. (2026). Beyond scents: calling on the fragrance industry to champion plant diversity. BioScience, biag014, https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biag014.

Spanish and Portuguese translation by Erika Alejandra Chaves-Diaz.

Cover picture by cgdsro (Pixabay).

Digitalization, the core topic of this Botany One Special Focus Issue, refers to transcribing and imaging specimens. It removes the need to mail physical specimens, giving researchers fast, global access to millions of digital specimen records. It is often presented as the final step in making biodiversity knowledge accessible for research, conservation, and other scientific uses. But even before digitalization begins, collections require extensive curation, good field documentation, and facilities for pressing, drying, storing, labelling, and mounting specimens under controlled conditions. But, what is actually the trickiest part of this complex process?

It starts by collecting a specimen that is, in many ways, as adventurous as it sounds. Chasing it in the field as if you are a real-life Indiana Jones, it can be difficult, unpredictable, but highly rewarding. Why is this process so difficult? Imagine trying to find your keys, except the keys are hidden somewhere in the world among thousands of very similar-looking ones. Once you find the right one, you must handle it carefully, label it correctly, so it can be identified again later, and preserve it properly… Not an easy task, right?

To learn more, we went full Indiana Jones and chased the perspectives of scientists across Latin America about the trickiest part of turning a specimen into a usable data point with two questions. Here, we summarized their answers, which revealed just how complex and deeply human this process really is.

What makes transforming a plant specimen into data more complex than it seems? 

Dr. Jenifer C. Lopes, who specializes in the nomenclature of the genus Vellozia (Velloziaceae) in Brazil, explained that one of the trickiest aspects is documenting all the morphological features: shapes, colours, and microscopic details that often require dissection.

"It is a long journey to learn plant taxonomy and be able to identify a specimen. I spent years of my life studying plant taxonomy and morphology so I could look at a plant and know its name".

One of the other big challenges in the field is to record the surrounding environment, the type of vegetation, soil conditions, exposure to sunlight, and the specimen’s interactions with other plants and organisms, such as epiphytes or pollinators. These details are essential for understanding species ecology and evolution, but they are also easy to overlook during collection.

Dr. Thorsten Krömer from the herbarium of the Tropical Research Center (CITRO), whose team is studying the distribution and assessing the conservation status of endemic plants from the state of Veracruz, México, shared that transforming a plant specimen into a digitized record is a long process with many obstacles:

"From properly arranging the plant in pressing sheets and recording complete field data to accurately identifying the species and preparing the specimen label. Unfortunately, many specimens remain stored in boxes for years because there is not enough workforce available for mounting, label transcription, and digitization before they can finally be incorporated into herbarium collections".

Krömer emphasized that it takes a village, and digitization projects often rely on the invaluable support of volunteers.

Researchers working on the PollenGEO database highlighted just how complex data curation can become when working with pollen grains. This project from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama is digitizing one of the world's largest pollen collections, comprising more than 18,000 plant species from the tropics. Working with pollen morphology is extraordinarily diverse, they said; traditional descriptions have generated extensive terminology, yet many grains have different shapes and structures that challenge existing classification. This is why high-quality imaging is so important, as images provide a direct and lasting record of morphology. However, images alone do not solve everything. Researchers explained that even within a single species, pollen can exhibit multiple morphologies, leading to reports of dimorphism and posing difficult decisions about how to standardize and represent this variation in a database. 

What is the most memorable or unexpected situation you have encountered during specimen collection? 

Lopes highlighted the strong connection between specimens and history:

"Once we were looking for a plant in Rio de Janeiro using the book of the French botanist Auguste Saint-Hilaire, who collected the type specimen in the 19th century. We found one of the places he visited. It was a farm, and the main house was still there. I was amazed by how that plant brought us to a historical place. A specimen is much more than just a sheet in a herbarium, it carries people’s stories and efforts behind it".

Krömer said:

"Without a doubt, the most memorable situation is the discovery of a new species, although this realization often happens later during the identification process rather than directly in the field. On the other hand, unexpected encounters with wildlife during expeditions are always exciting and joyful moments. During fieldwork in tropical forests, we observed monkeys, wild boars, capybaras, coatis, many bird species, and even a jaguar".

And about palynology, anonymous sources said:

"Sometimes you find beautiful, spectacular plants with very simple pollen grains, or completely different plants — like dandelions, Espeletia, and sunflowers — whose pollen looks surprisingly similar".

Fern spores present another challenge, especially the monolete spores of the order Polypodiales. After a chemical treatment called acetolysis, the outer layer of the spores is often destroyed, leaving behind spores that all look almost exactly the same. But when scientists compared them with the literature, they discovered that these spores are actually incredibly diverse. It becomes a great reminder of how important proper preservation is, because tiny details can make all the difference in identifying a species.

So as you can see, turning plants into data is far more than a technical process; it is a global and collaborative chain of work. Behind every collected specimen, there are many people involved and a huge amount of invisible human effort, along with countless experiences gathered along the way. The journey begins in the field, often with the help of local guides with deep knowledge of the landscape, followed by the careful preservation of specimens by collectors, the accurate identification and documentation by taxonomic experts, and finally their transformation into standardized digital records. Altogether, the process brings together field expertise, historical knowledge, taxonomy, conservation, and technology.

So stay tuned for the next article, where we will explore this journey in more detail: how does a plant, a fungus, or even a pollen grain become digitized in the first place?

READ MORE:

Herbarium – CITRO. (University of Veracruz). Retrieved May 14, 2026. Available at: https://www.uv.mx/en/citro/herbarium/

King, B. (2025). Digitised pollen database for paleontology research, allergy medicine and more. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Available at: https://stri.si.edu/story/digital-pollen 

Klopper, R., Steyn, H., Baider, C., Bytebier, B., Dayaram, A., Florens, F., Rakotonirina, N., Raimondo, D., Sosef, M., and le Roux, M. (2025) Digitisation of herbarium specimens to the benefit of research: An African perspective focusing on South Africa and Western Indian Ocean Island states. PLANTS, PEOPLE, PLANET. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.70117. 

Lopes, J., Magri, R., and Prado, J. (2024) Unveiling the aftermath of conflict and herbarium specimens’ loss: Typifications of species described by Pohl within the Neotropical genus Vellozia. TAXON, 73(4), pp. 1053-1061. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1002/tax.13218.

Guest Writer Profile

Ana Valladares, part scientist, part data nerd, and full-time globe-trotter. Ana is a Mexican scientist, with a background in biotech, plant breeding and data analysis currently living in Madagascar. Curious by nature, Ana loves exploring new topics, especially about plants, new cultures and places around the world.

Cover picture by Jennifer C. Lopes.

Spanish and French translations by Ana Valladares.

During unprecedented times of plant extinctions, AI-generated weblogs, and not always knowing what to believe online, Botany One is embarking on a mission with our first Special Focus Issue on Digital Botany.

We will be publishing three articles per week, focusing on Digital Botany throughout June. We worked together with the community to commission 12 articles from 8 writers, supported by one Guest Editor (myself), two editors and one producer. Our team reached out to around 30 people, including through conversations, emails and online surveys, to hear from scientists, conservationists, data managers, digitisation experts, artists and people working with collections.

In an age increasingly crowded with generic AI-generated weblogs, we wanted to do something more grounded: talk to real people, follow real work, and tell stories with context, care and curiosity. Behind every database, scanned specimen, cleaned record, model output or map, there are people making decisions, solving problems and trying to make knowledge more useful.

Our effort all leads up to Kew’s State of the World’s Plants and Fungi Symposium, which kicks off on 29 June at Kew and online. The conference brings an amazing community together to crunch the numbers and refocus global efforts to save, conserve and support plants and fungi around the world. The 2026 symposium focuses on what Kew calls the Digital Biodiversity Revolution: the huge effort to digitise collections, unlock data, and use those resources to address scientific, environmental and societal questions. Our issue also ties in with the New Phytologist Editor-in-Chief Symposium, Collections through time: legacy and innovation, which will be held on Friday, 3 July 2026, at the University of Tartu, Estonia.

The State of the World’s Plants and Fungi is one of Kew’s major global science initiatives. It assesses what we know about the diversity of plants and fungi on Earth, the threats they face, and the policies and actions needed to safeguard them. Previous reports have brought together hundreds of scientists across many countries, showing just how much collaboration is needed to understand, protect and use biodiversity responsibly. Botany One has followed the State of the World’s Plants and Fungi over the years (even back in 2017, 2018, 2020), covering both the alarming evidence on plant extinctions and the hopeful stories of how plants and fungi can help address global challenges.

Our issue also coincides with Kew’s Digitising Kew’s Collections project, which has been an incredible effort to digitise millions of specimens collected around the world over centuries. This takes us to the importance of collections. I have had the opportunity to spend a lot of time in herbaria at Kew and around the world, where opening each cabinet, folder, or box can feel like opening another treasure chest of stories.

Whilst collections are tied in with colonialism, elitism and privilege, we also have to reflect on them carefully. We have to make sure we acknowledge where all this knowledge comes from, protect sensitive information, enable restitution and repatriation, and make sure we don’t repeat the past, and build an inclusive botanist community in the future. Scientific collections around the world reveal plants and fungi, but also very important human connections to our world and to each other. A specimen is not just a pressed plant or a packet in a cabinet. It can hold information about where something grew, who collected it, what name it was given, what language was used to describe it, what people knew about it locally, how it moved through institutions, and how its meaning has changed over time. Digitisation opens up these amazing collections to more people around the world, which needs to be celebrated. However, digitisation itself is also a form of craft: building workflows, checking names, managing images, handling uncertainty, and making sure that collections and their data are used correctly and responsibly.

To tell these stories, we will be covering four phases of digital collections: their origin, the building of these treasure chests, the hidden stories they hold, and then scaling things up – how we apply the knowledge we gain from them.

We begin with how plants become data in the first place – how a specimen, field note, image, observation or local record enters the scientific world. We then move into the craft of digitisation itself: the careful, practical work of imaging, transcribing, databasing, checking names, building workflows and making collections accessible and reliable. We will hear from people thinking carefully about the tricky steps between field collection, accessioning, labels, taxonomy, metadata and the digital records that future researchers and decision-makers will rely on. We will look at the tricks, tools, software and equipment that make digitisation work – and the small decisions that can shape whether a digital collection becomes genuinely useful or simply another messy online archive. Our articles will feature a myriad of global, regional, national and institute-specific databases and acknowledge the tremendous value of iNaturalist observations (please keep using it, everyone!). We will also explore bigger digital tools, including Wikidata, AI and accelerated taxonomy, asking how new approaches can help botanists connect scattered information without losing the expertise and judgement that make the data meaningful.

From there, we open the cabinets a little further to explore the hidden stories that collections can reveal, from ethnobotany and fungi collections to women’s roles in mycology and botany and the human histories held within specimens. Once collections become digital, they can be searched, compared, mapped and connected in ways that were previously impossible. Our special issue will feature lots of inspirational interviews, just how eye-opening herbaria data can be for tracking and predicting plant evolution and distributions. These are not just old records becoming modern data. They are stories becoming visible again.

Finally, we scale things up and ask how digital collections can support on-the-ground decisions. Data are everywhere, scattered across the web, but using them well still depends on context, judgment, and understanding the practical realities behind conservation priorities. From global plant phenology datasets (built by using machine learning to process 70 million specimen images), to the in-development Plants for Health database, and the identification of Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) species, we will explore how digital botany can help turn scattered records into conservation priorities – including endangered plant conservation in Mexico. 

And let’s not forget – we are not just talking about herbaria. You will hear about genebanks, which hold treasure chests of crops and their wild relatives. These collections matter for food security, crop resilience and the future of agriculture. We will also venture into the role of fungi collections, which are still too often overlooked despite fungi being central to ecosystems, food, disease, medicine and climate resilience. You will also read about how digital collections have inspired artists who interpret these stories for the general public. Digital botany is not only about databases and algorithms. It is also about imagination.

This issue also celebrates the people behind collections. Not only the scientists and curators, but the volunteers, technicians, students, community contributors, citizen scientists, photographers, data cleaners, software builders and people mounting specimens, transcribing labels and adding observations through platforms such as iNaturalist. These contributions can be quiet and sometimes invisible, but they are part of how the world’s biodiversity knowledge is built.

Whilst there is a lot to do, luckily, there are also a lot of amazing people around the world quietly saving, digitising, connecting and changing the world. They are caring for specimens, preserving seeds, cleaning data, building workflows, writing code, making maps, asking difficult questions, interviewing communities, training others, and turning scattered knowledge into something useful.

We must do this efficiently, smartly and together. Digital botany is not about replacing the wonder of plants and fungi with data. At its best, it helps us share that wonder more widely, connect knowledge more fairly, and make better decisions for this beautiful planet of ours.

So “dear, gentle reader”, I hope you enjoy this amazing Botany One team effort in the upcoming month, and please share our work far and wide.

READ MORE:

Dinnage R, Grady E, Neal N, et al.. 2025. PhenoVision: A framework for automating and delivering research‐ready plant phenology data from field images. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 16: 1763-1780. https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210x.70081

Fonseca‐Kruel VS, Coimbra CEA, Estevão da Silva LA, et al.. 2025. Connecting tradition and technology: The digitization of the ethnobotanical collection at the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden. Plants, People, Planet. https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.70105

Forest F, Brown R, Buerki S, et al.. 2026. High risk of extinction across the flowering plant tree of life. Science 392: 655-659. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adz0773

Kreuzer C, Ridley GS, Smith NEC. 2026. Digitisation as archival intermediary: Quantifying and qualifying Greta B. Stevenson's mycological collector networks. Plants, People, Planet. https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.70173

Mabry ME, Caomhanach N, Abrahams RS, et al.. 2024. Building an inclusive botany: The “radicle” dream. Plants, People, Planet. 6: 544-557. https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10478

Park DS, Feng X, Akiyama S, et al.. 2023. The colonial legacy of herbaria. Nature Human Behaviour 7: 1059-1068. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-023-01616-7

von Mering S, Leachman S, Santos J, Meudt HM. 2025. Wikidata for botanists: benefits of collaborating and sharing Linked Open Data. Annals of Botany 136: 491-511. https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcaf062

White ME, Harris SA. 2026. Looking backward to move forward: Enhancing metadata in scientific collections through interdisciplinary collaboration. Plants, People, Planet. https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.70200

Guest Writer Profile

Juniper Kiss is a globe-trotting plant scientist and data-lover, Botany One Guest Editor and former writer, loves pretty plots, digi solutions, working with landowners, brambles and bananas.

Cover picture by Georg Andreas Helwing (Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain).

Last week, Carlos, one of our editors, took part in a grass taxonomy course. After spending the whole week surrounded by grasses, it was perhaps inevitable that his choice for Plant of the Week would be a grass too. But not just any grass: one of his favourites.

Loudetiopsis chrysothrix, known in Brazil as brinco-de-princesa — or “princess earring grass” — is a perennial grass typical of the Cerrado, the savannah-like vegetation that covers much of central Brazil. Its range also extends beyond Brazil, with records from Bolivia and Paraguay, as well as parts of tropical Africa.

It gets its name from the distinctive trichomes that cover its inflorescences and from the long awns that emerge from them, giving the plant the appearance of a golden earring fit for royalty. The colour of its inflorescences adds to the beauty of the Cerrado during the dry season, when greenery takes a step back until the rains return, and the landscape gives way to the ochres and golds of dry grasses.

Today, capim-brinco-de-princesa is one of the species most widely marketed by Cerrado de Pé, a seed collectors’ association based in Alto Paraíso de Goiás, in the Chapada dos Veadeiros region. These networks sell seeds of native species and support ecological restoration through direct seeding. In this context, the species has become not only a symbol of the Cerrado’s seasonal beauty, but also of the communities working to restore and value its native vegetation.

Due to its natural beauty, this species has recently begun to be used in landscaping. One example is the “Louise Ribeiro” Naturalist Garden, established at the University of Brasília in 2017 and considered the first naturalist garden in the Cerrado. The garden uses seeds supplied by Cerrado de Pé, linking ornamental planting with community-based seed collection and ecological restoration. As a naturalist garden, it follows a different approach to conventional landscaping, using native species arranged in ways that evoke the structure, seasonality and beauty of the Cerrado itself.

The garden was named in honour of Louise Ribeiro, a biology student at the University of Brasília who was murdered in 2016. In this way, the project has become both a space for valuing Cerrado plants in landscaping and a platform for remembering Louise and raising awareness about violence against women.

Cover image: Loudetiopsis chrysothrix. Photo by Maria Eduarda Machado de Oliveira (iNaturalist, CC BY-NC 4.0).

Here's a round up of the top 10 papers you've been sharing this week on Bluesky. Papers behind a paywall are marked 💰; otherwise, they're free to access at the time of checking.

Selective autophagy fine-tunes plant immunity to promote cell survival during viral infection 💰

Marion Clavel, Anita Bianchi, Roksolana Kobylinska, Roan Groh, Xi Zhang, Juncai Ma et al.

“Here, we show that Arabidopsis thaliana activates selective autophagy to respond to viruses targeting mitochondria, chloroplasts, and the endoplasmic reticulum. Rather than degrading viral components, autophagy selectively removes the immune regulator Enhanced Disease Susceptibility 1 (EDS1) to prevent cell death.”

Science (May 2026)

Cellular water-potential sensing through biomolecular condensation 🆓

Yunhe Wang, Longchen Zhu, Yun Yang, Xiaoshuang Li, Xin Zhang, Xiaofeng Fang

“Here we identify a sterile alpha motif (SAM)-containing protein, SAM8, that undergoes water-potential-dependent condensation both in vivo and in vitro and is crucial for hyperosmotic stress tolerance and seed germination. We use biophysical techniques, in vitro reconstitution and bioimaging to demonstrate that SAM8 is strongly hydrated under normal water conditions, preventing its macroscopic condensation.”

Nature (May 2026)

Endogenous RALF peptide function is required for powdery mildew host colonization 🆓

Henriette Leicher, Sebastian D. Schade, Jan W. Huebbers, Kristina S. Munzert‐Eberlein, Genc Haljiti, David Biermann et al.

“Combining genetics, cell biology and biochemistry, we found that FER's endogenous RALF ligands are necessary for full colonization success of the powdery mildew‐species Erysiphe cruciferarum.”

New Phytologist (May 2026)

Ensemble-based genomic prediction for maize flowering time improves prediction accuracy and reveals novel insights into trait genetic variation 🆓

Shunichiro Tomura, Owen Powell, Melanie J Wilkinson, Mark Cooper

“We used the EasiGP (Ensemble AnalySis with Interpretable Genomic Prediction) pipeline to investigate the performance of an ensemble approach, targeting flowering-time traits measured in 2 maize nested association mapping datasets. For both datasets, the ensemble-based prediction approach achieved higher prediction accuracy and lower prediction error across the flowering-time traits compared to each individual model.”

G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics (April 2026)

Convergence, stability, and thermal adaptation of the rubisco large subunit in plants 🆓

Arthur Leung, Belinda S W Chang, Rowan F Sage

“We examined molecular evolution and modelled the change in folding free energy (ΔΔG, where negative values indicate stabilization) of the rubisco large subunit (RbcL) in four phylogenetically distant plant genera: wood ferns (Dryopteris), sea lavenders (Limonium), pines (Pinus), and viburnums (Viburnum).”

Evolution (May 2026)

Silene, a versatile model system: from sex and genome evolution to ecology and speciation 🆓

Sophie Karrenberg, Václav Bačovský, Andrea E. Berardi, Isabelle De Cauwer, Tatiana Giraud, Fanny E. Hartmann et al.

“Here, we review recent progress in evolutionary research on the long‐standing model system Silene , a large genus with a well‐resolved phylogeny and newly available, expanded genomic resources.”

New Phytologist (June 2026)

VPS13 has an important role in female germline development in Arabidopsis 🆓

Rosanna Petrella, Camilla Banfi, Vicente Balanzà, Alex Cavalleri, Fabio Radi, Letizia Cornaro et al.

“The female germline precursor cell, known as the megaspore mother cell (MMC), differentiates and develops within the ovule through a complex genetic network, including post‐transcriptional and translational regulation mediated by miRNA. A key player in restricting MMC development to a single cell within the nucellus is the AUXIN RESPONSE FACTOR 3 ( ARF3 ). Here, we describe the role of the VACUOLAR PROTEIN SORTING‐ASSOCIATED 13 ( VPS13 ) in post‐transcriptional regulation of ARF3 .”

The Plant Journal (May 2026)

ERF transcription factor StPti5 is a regulator of endophyte community maintenance in potato 🆓

Tjaša Lukan, Karmen Pogačar, Barbara Kraigher, Katja Stare, Teja Grubar Kovačič, Maja Zagorščak et al.

“We have recently identified an ethylene response factor, StPti5, as a susceptibility factor that negatively regulates immune responses to diverse pathogens. Here, we investigated the role of StPti5 in the processes involved in the colonization of potato with beneficial organisms.”

New Phytologist (May 2026)

A CLE–RLK–LBD signaling module promotes de novo shoot regeneration in plants 💰

Ziyao Hu, Langrang Zhang, Siwei Bie, Junpeng Niu, Kaiying Chen, Xuan Ji et al.

“Through precursor gene overexpression, exogenous peptide application, and loss‐of‐function studies, we show here that CLAVATA3/ESR‐RELATED 41 ( CLE41 ), CLE42 , CLE44 , and CLE46 , collectively referred to as TDIF ‐related genes, function redundantly to promote de novo shoot regeneration.”

Journal of Integrative Plant Biology (May 2026)

Dawn of a new era for parasitic plant biology 🆓

Satoko Yoshida, Atsushi Okazawa, Thomas Spallek, Kaori Yoneyama

“This special issue of Plant and Cell Physiology brings together a comprehensive collection of original research articles and reviews that capture current progress in parasitic plant research, ranging from host–parasite signaling, haustorium development, genomic evolution, strigolactone (SL) biology, ecological interactions, and strategies for parasite control.”

Plant and Cell Physiology (May 2026)

Cover image: Silene vulgaris, by Douglas Goldman (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)

We often hear that “no one will protect what they don’t care about; and no one will care about what they don’t experience”. The point is a powerful one: people cannot care about what they do not notice. Unfortunately, this may be the case with many plants: although they are essential to human wellbeing, they often fade into the green background of daily life.

This has led to growing concern that people’s attention to plants, and their ability to name them, may have declined over recent decades. The worry is especially strong in highly industrialised European countries such as Germany, where urban life is common and many people have fewer everyday encounters with nature. Earlier studies suggested that children in German-speaking countries now identify fewer common wild plants than children did several decades ago. Other work has also found that adults, including biology students and teachers, often know relatively few plant species.

But there was a problem. Most studies used different methods and surveyed different groups of people. That makes it hard to know whether plant knowledge had truly declined, or whether researchers were simply comparing unlike surveys. To tackle this issue, Dr Petra Lindemann-Matthies and colleagues took a more direct route. They repeated an earlier survey, using the same basic test, to ask whether adults could still recognise common wild plants after 20 years.

The researchers used a simple test: they showed people pictures of plants and asked them to name them. The first survey took place in summer 2002 in Marburg, Germany, at two sites: the Botanical Garden of the University of Marburg and the entrance to the university hospital. The hospital site was chosen because its visitors were expected to be closer to the general public than visitors to a botanical garden, who might already be more interested in plants.

Twenty years later, the team repeated the test. In 2022, they returned to the same botanical garden. They had hoped to repeat the hospital survey too, but COVID-19 restrictions made this impractical, so they also ran an online version. In 2023, they added a face-to-face survey in a park in Freiburg im Breisgau. In total, the final dataset included 1558 adults aged 18 to 88.

Each participant saw photographs of 15 common wild plants native to Germany. These included species expected to be easy to recognise, such as dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) and daisy (Bellis perennis), as well as less familiar plants such as chickweed (Stellaria media), ground-ivy (Glechoma hederacea), cock’s-foot (Dactylis glomerata) and perennial rye-grass (Lolium perenne). The same photographs were used in 2002 and 2022/23, making the comparison as fair as possible.

Participants also reported their age, gender, where they thought their plant knowledge came from, and how good they believed that knowledge was. The researchers then compared scores across years, places and participant groups.

What, then, did people know? Participants in 2002 correctly identified 6.47 species on average, compared with 6.51 in 2022/23. Surprisingly, plant knowledge had not declined since 2002. That challenges the familiar idea that people in Europe have simply become worse at recognising plants over the past few decades. Yet this good news comes with a catch: participants still identified just over 40% of the plants correctly. Plant knowledge may not have collapsed, but it remains modest.

The easiest plants were the ones many people meet early and often. Dandelion, stinging nettle and daisy were each recognised by more than 80% of participants. At the other end were chickweed, ground-ivy, cock’s-foot and perennial rye-grass, which fewer than 10% of participants could name correctly. In other words, people tend to remember plants that are colourful, familiar, irritating or culturally visible, while small green plants and grasses often disappear into the background.

The result is therefore not exactly reassuring. Younger participants in 2022/23 knew fewer species than older people, and the gap between age groups was wider than it had been 20 years earlier. This suggests that plant knowledge may not be vanishing equally across society, but weakening especially among younger generations. The authors point to likely causes such as less direct experience of nature and less attention to species identification in schools.

The sources of knowledge also changed with age. Older participants were more likely to say they had learnt about plants through gardening or other leisure activities. Younger people more often pointed to family or formal education. The implication is clear: plant knowledge grows through repeated contact. Seeing, touching, gardening, learning and naming all help turn anonymous greenery into recognisable life.

Together, these findings suggest a more nuanced problem. The issue is not a sudden cultural forgetting, but a shallow and uneven relationship with everyday plant life. Many people have not forgotten plants so much as never had enough chances to know them well.

That matters because biodiversity protection depends on more than facts about distant rainforests or endangered animals. The future of plant conservation may begin with something as simple as learning what is growing at your feet. Lindemann-Matthies and colleagues argue that young people need more direct, enjoyable contact with plants, in schools, gardens, parks and greener cities. Bright flowers can open the door, but real awareness means looking closer: not every yellow daisy-like flower is a dandelion, and not every green leaf is just “a plant”. Once people can name what they see, everyday greenery becomes biodiversity, and biodiversity becomes something worth defending.

READ THE ARTICLE

Lindemann‐Matthies P, Gellesch T, Matthies D. 2026. One questionnaire—Two points in time: Has plant species knowledge of laypeople changed over a period of 20 years?. People and Nature. https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.70331

Spanish and Portuguese translation by Erika Alejandra Chaves-Diaz.

Cover picture by Jade87 (Pixabay).

If you wanted a seed to germinate, you might think all it needs is water, light and the right temperature. While this works for many of the plants we grow and eat, wild plants often follow a very different strategy. Some produce seeds that can remain dormant—a state in which growth is temporarily paused until environmental conditions signal that seedlings are likely to survive.

This is particularly important in strongly seasonal ecosystems such as the Brazilian Cerrado, the largest savanna in South America. In the case of Butia capitata, a palm tree locally known as coco-azedinho, dormancy is especially pronounced. The embryo inside the seed is extremely small and has limited strength to begin with. On top of that, the seed is enclosed within a very hard, woody shell known as the endocarp. This means the embryo must push through several layers of protective tissues before germination can occur. Together, these barriers can delay germination for years.

To understand this, botanists have begun looking at seeds from a biomechanical perspective—focusing on the physical balance of forces inside them. Inside each seed, the embryo must push its way through a small exit point known as the micropylar region, a gateway blocked by protective tissues. Germination only happens when the embryo becomes strong enough to overcome the resistance of these surrounding structures. In other words, it is a biological tug-of-war between the growing embryo and the tissues that hold it back. In many plants, seasonal temperature changes help shift this balance, either by gradually weakening these tissues or by boosting embryo growth. However, most research has focused on temperate species, leaving tropical plants—especially palms—largely unexplored.

A new study led by Túlio G. S. Oliveira, published in Annals of Botany, set out to fill this gap by investigating how temperature alters this internal balance in Butia capitata and how this helps break dormancy.

The team collected seeds in the northern part of the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais and exposed different seed parts to a range of constant temperatures, from cool to very warm, tracking embryo growth and germination. For that purpose, they tested isolated embryos, seeds removed from their woody shell, and intact pyrenes—the hard, stone-like structures that contain the seed. This allowed the team to test whether temperature was acting mainly on the embryo, on the tissues surrounding it, or on both.

They then moved on to a much larger experiment designed to mimic the changing seasons of the Cerrado. Pyrenes were exposed to alternating day and night temperatures, including combinations that resembled cooler dry-season conditions and hotter temperatures typical of the transition into the rains. Some were kept moist, while others were kept dry for part of the experiment. The treatments were applied in two repeated temperature cycles, reflecting the recurring seasonal cues that seeds may experience across more than one year in the wild.

Crucially, they did not just record whether seeds germinated. They also measured the physical forces involved. Using a dynamometer, they tested how much force was needed to push aside the operculum and to break the germination pore plate. They also measured how much the embryo itself could grow, giving them a way to assess the internal balance between strength and resistance. With all this information in hand, the researchers were able to identify which temperature patterns actually shift the balance within the seed and allow germination.

The results revealed that heat does not simply switch germination on or off. When the researchers tested embryos on their own, they found that these tiny plant bodies could grow across a broad range of temperatures. The real problem was not the embryo itself, but the barriers surrounding it. Seeds with the operculum—a cap-like tissue covering the micropylar region—removed germinated readily, while intact pyrenes hardly germinated at all under constant temperatures. This showed just how powerful those outer structures are in keeping dormancy in place.

Things changed when the team exposed pyrenes to alternating temperatures that resembled seasonal conditions in the Cerrado. In the first cycle, germination remained low, suggesting that one round of seasonal cues was not enough for most seeds. But in the second cycle, certain temperature conditions triggered a dramatic response. The standout treatment was 35/20 °C under moist conditions, which produced very high germination, reaching up to 92% in some groups. That is a striking result for a species whose natural germination is usually slow and sparse.

Measurements of the seed structures showed that the woody tissues surrounding the embryo became weaker over time, especially under particular warm regimes. At the same time, the embryo’s own growth strength increased, especially in moist conditions. In other words, dormancy was broken not by a single trigger, but by a combination of weakening barriers and a stronger embryo.

However, the process does not happen all at once. Different seeds respond to temperature at slightly different speeds, meaning that dormancy is broken gradually. This spreads germination over several years rather than triggering it all at once. Such variation may seem inefficient, but it is actually a survival strategy. By staggering germination through time, the species avoids putting all its chances into a single season that might turn out to be unfavourable.

The key signal appears to be the temperature pattern that marks the Cerrado’s transition from the dry season to the rainy season. When seeds experience warm daytime temperatures and cooler nights typical of this period, their dormancy begins to weaken. Once conditions stabilise and soils become warmer and wetter, the embryos finally grow enough to trigger germination.

Together, these results suggest that Butia capitata is finely tuned to the seasonal rhythm of the Cerrado. Its seeds appear to wait for the heat pattern that marks the transition from the dry season to the rains before committing to germination. As temperature cycles gradually weaken the barriers around the embryo and strengthen its ability to grow, seeds begin to germinate in waves across different years. This staggered timing ensures that at least some seedlings emerge during favourable rainy seasons, improving their chances of survival in an unpredictable environment. Understanding this mechanism matters not only for ecology, but also for conservation. Because this palm is threatened in the wild, knowing which temperature conditions trigger germination could help scientists and restoration projects produce seedlings more effectively. More broadly, the study shows how plants can use seasonal heat as a signal for survival, and offers a new way to understand how tropical palms keep pace with a changing world.

READ THE ARTICLE:

Oliveira TGS, Moura ACF, Correia LNdF, Azevedo AM, Lopes PSN, Ribeiro LM. 2026. Temperature-mediated changes in the force balance of the micropylar region adjust overcoming of dormancy to seasonality in diaspores of the Neotropical palm Butia capitata. Annals of Botany. https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcag039

Cover picture: Ripe fruit of the Butia capitata palm. Photo by Moxfyre (Wikimedia Commons).

Plants are incredibly diverse, and so are botanists! In its mission to spread fascinating stories about the plant world, Botany One also introduces you to the scientists behind these great stories.

Today, we have David Pires, a nematologist working at the intersection of plant health and sustainable pest management. His research focuses on plant-parasitic nematodes, microscopic worms that infect plants and can cause major losses in agriculture and forestry. Pires is especially interested in nature-based solutions to control these pests, including biological control using natural enemies such as fungi. He is currently exploring these approaches against the pinewood nematode, a quarantine organism in many countries.

Pires holds a BSc in Biology-Geology and an MSc in Ecology from the University of Minho, where he first specialised in plant nematology. He is now a PhD candidate at the University of Évora, Portugal. His work across Portuguese research institutions and national and European projects combines molecular biology, ecology, and applied plant protection to understand how beneficial microbes can suppress nematode populations in agricultural and forestry systems.

Beyond research, Pires enjoys communicating science and contributing to the scientific community through editorial activities. Readers interested in following his work can visit his website, which includes links to his work and social media profiles.

What made you become interested in plants?

 Actually, I wasn’t particularly drawn to plants during my undergraduate studies in Biology and Geology. My interest developed during my Master’s thesis, which involved screening common bean cultivars for resistance to root-knot nematodes. Working with plants revealed a world belowground that I had never considered before: roots are hubs where countless microbes, fungi, and soil organisms interact, shaping plant health in complex ways. Of course, I had learned about this during my degree, but fully realising that microscopic organisms could determine whether a plant thrives or fails changed my perspective. Since then, understanding ecological networks, microbiology, and applied plant science has fascinated me, and continues to guide my research today.

What motivated you to pursue your current area of research?

 To be completely honest, my path into this field was not something I had originally planned. When I was choosing a topic for my Master’s thesis in Ecology, I was strongly inclined toward wildlife conservation, particularly the conservation of the Iberian wolf in Portugal. At the time, I imagined fieldwork that looked somewhat like what we see in nature documentaries (the perks of being young and hopeful, or completely delusional). One of my professors gave me very pragmatic advice: research on large mammals is often logistically difficult and far less glamorous than it appears. That conversation made me reconsider my options. One of the remaining thesis topics involved screening common bean cultivars for resistance to root-knot nematodes. I decided to take the opportunity, and I have never regretted that decision. Plant-parasitic nematodes cause billions of euros in crop losses worldwide, yet they often go unnoticed because they are microscopic. Over time, studying sustainable ways to manage these pests, particularly through beneficial microorganisms, felt like the perfect combination, since I always had a strong interest in microbiology as well.

What is your favourite part of your work related to plants?

 One of my favourite aspects of plant-related research is uncovering the interactions that shape plant health. Much of what determines whether a plant grows well or becomes diseased happens through complex biological interactions. In my current research, I am particularly interested in the tripartite interactions between maritime pine, the pinewood nematode (Bursaphelenchus xylophilus), and nematophagous fungi (fungi that prey upon and feed on nematodes). Understanding how these organisms interact is a major motivation for me, particularly in exploring how these beneficial fungi can be effectively exploited and deployed as biocontrol agents under field conditions.

Another aspect I value greatly is the inherently interdisciplinary nature of plant science. Addressing plant health challenges requires integrating molecular biology, ecology, microbiology, and applied agricultural or forestry practices. This complexity means that meaningful progress often depends on collaboration. Working with colleagues from different disciplines, institutions, and countries brings new perspectives to the research and ultimately leads to more robust and innovative solutions.

Are any specific plants or species that have intrigued or inspired your research? If so, what are they and why? 

Pine trees are major carbon sinks globally, and in Portugal, they play a crucial role in both ecology and the economy. Pinus pinaster, the country’s dominant pine species, is particularly vulnerable to the pinewood nematode. My PhD research investigates Esteya spp. as potential fungal biocontrol agents against this pest in Portugal and Europe. While these fungi have shown promising results in Asian pines, applying that success to European ecosystems requires careful ecological consideration. I’ve been working on this for the past four years and am really excited about the results. Manuscripts are still in preparation, so I can’t reveal too much yet, but stay tuned!

Could you share an experience or anecdote from your work that has marked your career and reaffirmed your fascination with plants?

The fungal genus Esteya has been central to my PhD research. When I first started in 2021, I was surprised to realise that since its initial report in 1999, no ecological interactions had been studied beyond those with its host, the pine tree. Overlooking these interactions can severely limit the success of biocontrol strategies, especially when a fungal suspension is inoculated directly into the trunk.

Plants naturally interact with complex microbiomes inhabiting the phyllosphere, rhizosphere, or endosphere. Even closely related species can respond very differently to the same microbial inoculant. Realising that I was the first to systematically study the interactions of Esteya spp. with other fungi under controlled conditions, and to begin translating that knowledge to living pine hosts, has been a defining moment in my career and continues to fuel my fascination with plant-microbe interactions.

What advice would you give young scientists considering a career in plant biology? 

Curiosity about the natural world is the spark that drives every scientist. If you have that curiosity and persistence to follow it, you are cut out to be a scientist! Don’t compare yourself to others: every career path is unique, so focus on paving your own way, guided by your interests and curiosity.

 Plant biology is vast and wonderfully interconnected, so stay open to interdisciplinary approaches. Early in your career, seek diverse experiences: work in different labs, collaborate domestically and internationally, and learn new techniques. Science rarely follows a straight line, so adaptability and resilience are essential.

 Finally, cultivate strong communication skills. Explaining your research clearly, to both peers and the public, is critical, especially as plant science addresses global challenges like food security, biodiversity, and climate change. Take every opportunity to give talks, seminars, or conference presentations. I say that as an introvert, but it will benefit you enormously down the line. Trust your instincts, stay curious, and good luck!

What do people usually get wrong about plants?

 A common misconception is that plants are passive or simple. Because they don’t move in ways we notice and operate on timescales very different from ours, they’re often seen as static parts of the environment. In reality, plants are highly dynamic and responsive, forming intricate networks belowground and interacting continuously with other organisms.

Another misconception is that plant problems are easy to solve. In agriculture and forestry, plant health depends on complex interactions among pests, pathogens, beneficial organisms, soil properties, and climate. Understanding these networks is key to developing sustainable, long-term solutions.

Recognising the sophistication of plants and the ecosystems they support is one of the most rewarding aspects of studying them.

Cover picture by David Pires.

Flowers come in all sorts of colours, sizes, and shapes. They can look like anything from tiny trumpets or bells to nectar-filled cups and straws. Some even resemble delicate fairy slippers or eerie alien eggs, while others bear intricate petals that imitate fungi and bugs. As for louseworts, several species have their petals partly fused into a long, curving trunk, making their flowers look like a miniature elephant’s head. But what for?

 Although unusual flower designs often play a role when engaging with pollinators, the function of such a weird-looking appendage had never been properly demonstrated. Until now. An article published this year in Annals of Botany reveals that the snout-like petals of certain lousewort flowers serve as a finely tuned mechanism to regulate pollen delivery to animal visitors.

 Led by Dr Ze-Yu Tong, a group of researchers from China and the United States compared pollinator behaviours and pollen dispensing strategies across three sister lousewort species that grow side by side in the Hengduan Mountains, right next to the Himalayas. One of them, Pedicularis densispica, lacks the peculiar elephant trunk. In this species, the upper petals of the flowers simply merge into a short hood that covers the pollen-producing anthers from above. In the other two species, Pedicularis cephalantha and Pedicularis rhinanthoides, that basic hood extends into slender funnels of different lengths that fully enclose the anthers. Thus, their pollen grains can only be released through a small pore at the tip of the trunk, following the buzzing of a suitable bee guest.

Despite their different floral architecture, all three species were pollinated by the same mountain-dwelling bumblebee. But the way this furry lover handled different types of flowers was not quite the same. Indeed, snoutless plants were visited far more often than the others. As the food treats they offer are way easier to reach, bumblebees moved on more quickly between snoutless flowers, while taking much longer on the elephant-looking ones. Even so, the researchers found that each visit to the longest-trunked flowers released a much smaller slice of their hidden pollen stores. In other words, the intriguing appendage seemed to restrict pollen expenditure.

To reinforce their field observations, Tong and his team further designed an elegant set of lab experiments. They turned plastic pipettes into different models of lousewort floral trunks, varying in length and curvature. After filling them with artificial powders of a pollen-like particle size, the models were put through mechanical vibrations at the average frequency of a buzzing bumblebee. The results backed up what the real flowers had suggested: as the plastic trunks got longer and more twisted, a smaller proportion of fake pollen was released with each vibration.

By dispensing pollen in small doses, the authors say, a flower with an elephant’s trunk might get more bumblebees and have its pollen spread to a greater number of compatible plants, enhancing reproduction. Rationing pollen could also ease the conflict of interest between louseworts and their pollinators over its limited supply. While plants want their pollen to make it to other suitable flowers, bees feed it to their larvae as their main protein source. Perhaps these big-nosed flowers evolved to cut the chances of all their pollen ending up as baby bee food.

Beyond providing answers, this study also raises a whole new set of questions. For instance, the researchers went on to count the number of foreign, compatible pollen grains received by each flower during a single bumblebee visit. Paradoxically, they found that the short-snout species achieved the most favourable balance of pollen losses and gains. Does this mean that a longer trunk is not actually a better bet? Is there something like an optimal snout length for pollination success? Could trunk size and curvature influence how often pollen makes it to the right destination? There’s still much to uncover about the winding paths of evolution in these and many other flowers.

READ THE ARTICLE

Tong, Z. Y., Wu, L. Y., Armbruster, W. S., Huang, S. Q. (2026). Ecological function of the ‘elephant trunk’ upper corolla in Pedicularis species. Annals of Botany, 137: 703-711. https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcaf278

Spanish translation by Andrés Pereira-Guaquetá.

 Cover picture: Pedicularis rhinanthoides, the study species with the longest floral trunk. Photo modified from Jasmine Star.