🧪 Taxonomy can tell bigger stories 🌎 This new revision by @moopellegrini.bsky.social of gem-fruited dayflowers names Commelina sugariae for Rebecca Sugar and C. almandina for Garnet, recognising how inclusive storytelling helps people see themselves in science and nature. 💎🌼 ow.ly/3lOp50X3fU4

While Magnolia relies on biotic seed dispersal, Liriodendron relies on the wind. Each carpel becomes a woody, winged fruit (except for the lowermost carpels, which form a basket to hold their winged sisters). This is L. tulipifera. #dispersal #Magnoliaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Here's 123 new bryophyte genomes for you! Apparently, bryophytes time and again include microbial genes in their genomic repertoire, and occupy a langer gene space than vascular plants. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Let’s take a look at Magnoliaceae. Named for Pierre Magnol, who gave us the modern concept of plant families. There are now just 2 genera, distributed in Asia & the Americas: Magnolia s.l. (📷2: M. cylindrica) & Liriodendron (📷3: L. tulipifera). #Magnoliaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

🌱 Using ‘compelling’ methods, including #CryoET, researchers mapped spinach thylakoid membranes at single-molecule precision, revealing how photosynthetic complexes are organised and settling long-standing debates on chloroplast architecture. buff.ly/j3TSIkn

I wanted to get a video of this ghost crab but every time I got close to their hole they scuttled back in, so I tried getting clever with it. I made a little sandcastle and shoved my phone into it, hit record, and walked away. Crab was VERY suspicious of this addition to their environment.

Naturalists in the Northeast including New York City have been noting a distinctive type of stem gall on Common Mugwort. Thanks to a recent paper by Carol Mapes & others we now know these mugwort stem galls are caused by the early stages of Pseudomordellina hattorii (Coleoptera: Mordellidae).

There’s an interesting series of 5 free online paleobotany lectures via the Oxford University Botanic Garden this autumn. You can book all 5 lectures here (scroll down webpage to ‘Get your tickets now’ button) www.obga.ox.ac.uk/event/dr-san... #paleobotany

“We’ve collectively decided to pretend a vascular disease that attacks every organ in your body is basically a head cold. We’ve decided that forty percent of infections happening with zero symptoms is totally normal and fine...” #COVID

"how can you get more accurate answers" from an LLM? that's like asking "how can you get more love from a prostitute." that's just not the service provided. — Thomas' words of wisdom

Confused writing is usually a symptom of confused thinking. As we struggle to clarify writing, we clarify our thoughts. AI writing aids rob us of that struggle, leaving clean-looking text and thoughts still confused for lack of inspection. Writing is not just a product; it is a diagnostic tool.

Half a billion years ago, oceans didn’t breathe steadily, they lurched between oxygen-rich and suffocating for over 100M years. New research shows deep time holds a warning: once oxygen is lost, it takes ages to return. Our seas don’t have that time. 🌊 🧪 #SciComm buff.ly/LV89Djv

Still my favorite meme included in my lectures. I did not make this, and no idea who did.

Here's something I post from time to time. My answer to a reader who asked me: what could journalists do NOW to break with some of their more corrosive habits.

This is an Acorn Vase It is a good way to study the root system of an oak seedling It also allows you to grow an oak from seed indoors during the winter using forced germination That is why we have a selection of acorns wrapped in moist tissue, in a zip bag, in the fridge

Dracaena has at least 3 kinds of inflorescences. Some have unbranched racemes, others have branched racemes, & another group, like this D. pethera (Sansevieria kirkii), has dense umbels. The flowers open at night, have a sweet fragrance & are moth-pollinated. #Dracaena #Asparagaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Fruits of #Dracaena are berries: fleshy, colorful fruits with several seeds. These are surely consumed by animals, who disperse the seeds & likely account for the wide distribution of the genus. These fruits are D. surculosa, a species grown for its spotted foliage. #Asparagaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

OKAY good morning everyone, let's talk about the ostensible katydid testicles on display here and their horrifying evolution

A great example of how comparative genomics across the full range of vascular plant lineages can be used as a catalyst for gene discovery! Exciting new single cell datasets for gymnosperms, ferns and lycophytes! The scale of this study is really amazing! www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

The seeds of Hevea brasiliensis (rubber) are cyanogenic, and the glycoside serves a dual purpose: it protects the seed, and if not needed for defense, the nitrogen in the glycoside is recovered & used for growth. 📷: Ria Tan CCBYNCSA2. ☠️ #HCN #Euphorbiaceae #TropicalBotany #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Our "Joshua tree is CAM" paper is finally out: nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... Data collection started back in 2021, when we saw weird results in some RNAseq that made me stop and wonder if Joshua trees, long thought to be C3, were actually...CAM!

Tracking a new #forest #pathogen killing beech #trees ... | #BeechLeafDisease | #nematode | #soils | By @uvmvermont.bsky.social via @sciencex.bsky.social

Wondered why Katsura trees are now releasing their cotton-candy aroma well before Autumn leaf drop. Learned stressed out trees during summer hot, dry periods will emit maltol. Take a deep breath 🌳 #nature #trees #botany #katsura

It's publication day for Mosses, Liverworts and Hornworts of the World! Immerse yourself in the miniature world of these fascinating plants, delve into their evolutionary past and look ahead to what might be in store for their future. More details at: shorturl.at/Zmtfe

Using one of my favourite bryophyte books to help with my thesis. It is a difficult read, densely packed with all kinds of interesting and almost forgotten information. I must have read it half a dozen times, and each time, I notice something profound that I either missed or didn't understand before

New Paper! In 2019, my first dissertation chapter revealed complicated polyploidies in the cotton family (Malvaceae) but we lacked the tools and genomes to truly understand it. Now with better genomes and improved methods, it's much more complicated than we thought. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

This is one of my favorite shrubby species: Ficus deltoidea, so named for the shape of the leaf, not the black triangles on the underside of the leaf. Although there are a couple of published studies of leaf anatomy, neither explains what these triangles are. 🤷‍♂️ #Moraceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Want to help your students sharpen their critical thinking? Discover four practical ways to boost these skills – from data analysis training to smart course design. www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/four-... #CriticalThinking #EducationTips #CourseDesign #HigherEd #AcademicSky #EduSky

Coming in March 2026: Flowers! When flowers appeared, nothing was ever the same. They are the world’s great collaborators and creators. Writing this book transformed how I see life’s history and future. Cooperation, beauty, and illusion transform the world. Can't wait to share these stories

Hypericum androsaemum, commonly known as the shrubby St. John's wort, tutsan or sweet-amber, is a flowering plant in the family Hypericaceae. It is native to Western Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, but has been introduced elsewhere, including Australia and New Zealand.

This tracks.

This is Costasiella kuroshimae, the sea sheep. It's not a nudibranch, it's a sacoglossan, another mollusc clade. The green color is a tip-off: sacoglossans are herbivorous where nudis are carnivores. Like nudibranchs they can eat things and then repurpose cells from them, in this case chloroplasts

"PhD-level experts in your back pocket" is a completely nonsensical description of AI but a pretty good description of social media if you follow the right people

This is a fascinating article. "To put that in context, there are as many species of just ladybirds as there are of all mammals combined." Whoa. 🤯

FREE TEACHING RESOURCE! 📣 I illustrated this poster as a project during the ComSciCon-ATL conference in 2024 on sunflowers and their unique inflorescence architecture. I am happy to share it here now! Feel free to download, use, and share! You can also contact me for a higher resolution version 🌻

A magnificently illustrated guide to the bryophyte species found across the world. Mosses, Liverworts, and Hornworts of the World by Joanna Wilbraham is out now. Learn more and order your copy of this fascinating book: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

Arthropod Photo of the Week: August 6, 2025 Six-spotted tiger beetle Cicindela sexguttata Coleoptera: Cicindelidae By Peter Kann, Virginia, USA #arthropodPOTW

Congrats to Dr. Fay-Wei Li on receiving the Emerging Leader Award from the Botanical Society of America! His pioneering work on hornworts and plant evolution, along with his commitment to mentorship, is shaping the future of botany. @fernway.bsky.social

Heliconiini butterfly larvae (Heliconius & kin) have a taste for Passiflora, which has evolved several lines of defense, including this one: Spots on P. boenderi that resemble butterfly eggs & making the leaves appear “occupied” so that gravid females look elsewhere. #Passifloraceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

🌱 Ancient liverwort gene unlocks secret of plant cloning 🧪 doi.org/pzg3 Scientists cracked how plants reproduce without sex. The finding could improve crops and on Earth and beyond. But the key to this discovery comes from a plant that annoys many gardeners. #Botany #PlantScience (1/7)

Excited to showcase my new Open Educational Resource for intro college level Botany. It's a hybrid textbook, lab manual, and workbook. Published and ready for anyone to implement! I'll be showcasing it in the Educational section of #Botany2025 today and handing out copies & stickers!

Hey #Botany2025 peeps! Come watch me blab about Comps tomorrow! Phylogenomics 2, Santa Rosa room, at 2:30 pm!

Found a very modern fossil plant on my way back home! #paleobotany

Appreciating this intersection between botany and pride in Palm Springs--pride for prickly plant people, perhaps? That would fit me. #Botany2025 #PrideInSTEM

New tea towels have arrived on the shop! Bonus: They are on sale between now and August 2nd, 2025! bluebeehivestudio.etsy.com/listing/4342... #Botany2025 #SciArt #TeaTowel #HomeDecor

Oxford, Wiley, and T&F announced similar deals last summer.

Packing for #Botany2025!! On Sunday I'm co-hosting a workshop with the amazing Kasey Pham on ~~Design Principles for Figures~~. Collaborating with an artist is so fun, and I'm excited to forcefully overshare all my OCD about colors, fonts, sizes, alignments, etc. with all our participants haha 😆🌱🧪

I was interviewed for Vanity Fair about the connection between Paltrow, GOOP and MAHA www.vanityfair.com/style/story/...

When it comes to creative and artistic works I have NO interest in anything included in the AI catchall (caveats required because machine-learning has its place WRT handling data). I will never use it. Do I want an AI copilot? No no no, no I do not; I despise the fact that I am even asked.

It's a bias amplification engine thenextweb.com/news/chatgpt...