The study reveals how Balanophora plants function despite abandoning photosynthesis and, in some species, sexual reproduction. Their plastid genomes shrank dramatically in a shared ancestor, yet the ...

Balanophora plants represent an extreme example of this shift. They do not produce their own food through photosynthesis but ...

In the damp understory of forests in Taiwan, mainland Japan, and Okinawa, a plant called Balanophora can fool you at first ...

Central Florida is gearing up for a significant rise in pollen over the next few weeks as temperatures climb and plants shift ...

RNA-expression patterns in the tips of the weevils’ antennae suggests that these organs produce a protein known to help other ...

A new study published in Science shows that these plants—called cycads—use infrared radiation from heat as a signal to ...

Balanophora is a plant that abandoned photosynthesis long ago and now lives entirely as a parasite on tree roots, hidden in dark forest undergrowth. Scientists surveying rare populations across East ...

Through pollination and feeding on all parts of plants, insects influence which plants thrive, which struggle, and even ...

In a finding that challenges long-held assumptions about plant behaviour, scientists from India have reported what they ...

A weird-looking parasitic plant has discarded all its photosynthesis machinery – and nevertheless has found a way to thrive.

New research shows potatoes evolved from tomatoes through ancient plant mixing that created underground tubers.

Some plants bend the rules of plant life so far that they barely resemble plants at all. Balanophora is one of them - a ...