Plants
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Find out everything there is to know about plants and stay updated on the latest environment news with the comprehensive articles, interactive features and plant pictures at LiveScience.com. Learn more about plants as scientists continue to make amazing discoveries.Plants
Latest about Plants
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World's loneliest tree species can't reproduce without a mate. So AI is looking for one hidden in the forests of South Africa.
By Richard Pallardy published
A single specimen of an ancient tree species was found in 1895. Now scientists are using AI to find it a mate.
![Three panels showing different desert flower blooms with dew drops on the petals](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/hzuEEfmurvoXWwbeeFpnw7-320-80.jpg)
See stunning photos of the Atacama Desert — the driest on Earth — blooming in winter for 1st time in a decade
By María de los Ángeles Orfila published
"This very arid soil houses a treasure," ecologist María Fernanda Pérez told Live Science after the Atacama Desert produced a rare winter bloom.
![Lush forest filled with tall Mountain Ash and ferns, located in the Yarra Ranges National Park, Victoria](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/LXkY5DGmDUMADoUmysWv87-320-80.jpg)
Rainforest of super trees descended from lost supercontinent Gondwana being created in Australia
By Emma Bryce published
Project seeks to protect ancient tree lineages that have survived from a time before Earth’s continents broke apart.
![An underwater picture of seagrass in the immortal seagrass meadow at Shark Bay.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/wY3pAWEDTeFmDmUQJGG6EJ-320-80.jpg)
Shark Bay: Home to Earth's largest plant — an immortal, self-cloning seagrass meadow stretching 112 miles
By Sascha Pare published
A 77-square-mile seagrass meadow at the bottom of Shark Bay in Western Australia is both Earth's largest plant and largest clone.
![Dried and dessicated moss, Syntrichia caninervis, attached to dried rock in Hackberry Canyon of Hovenweep National Monument, Colorado, USA](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/nKApp6B6hLoHiQxH5bJWdW-320-80.jpg)
Near-indestructible moss can survive gamma rays and liquid nitrogen
By Stephanie Pappas published
This little moss withstands deadly blasts of radiation, extreme cold and dehydration — and could probably survive on Mars.
![close up of an avocado leaf with a stem running diagonally from left to right](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/SoJj2vUsPUsbLpW4FKRmVb-320-80.jpg)
What is photosynthesis?
By Daisy Dobrijevic last updated
Reference Photosynthesis is the process plants, algae and some bacteria use to turn sunlight, carbon dioxide and water into sugar and oxygen.
![A tall tree with a pair of thick leg-like roots that make it look like the tree is walking](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/XsMgr7HcTRAD6qCz3Ei8rG-320-80.jpg)
100-foot 'walking tree' in New Zealand looks like an Ent from Lord of the Rings — and is the lone survivor of a lost forest
By Harry Baker published
An unusual northern rātā tree that looks like it is striding across an empty field has been crowned New Zealand's Tree of the Year. The giant plant, which looks strikingly similar to an Ent from "The Lord of the Rings," is centuries old.
![A photo of baobab trees in Madagascar at sunset.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/kZhZYZvVvCTiVuDWGFFKED-320-80.jpg)
Bizarre evolutionary roots of Africa's iconic upside-down baobab trees revealed
By Richard Pallardy published
The baobab tree evolved on the island of Madagascar before eventually spreading to Africa and Australia, new research suggests.
![Close up coffee Columbia arabica with Green and red cherries on branch of Coffee tree after raining.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/JrPBNHpncLMg7rCAvYxbAH-320-80.jpg)
2 plants randomly mated up to 1 million years ago to give rise to one of the world's most popular drinks
By Richard Pallardy published
Arabica coffee plant appears to have evolved between 600,000 and 1 million years ago after two other coffee species crossbred in the forests of what is now Ethiopia.
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