Category: Plants

How to clone your Christmas Cactus

Today I am going to explain how you can clone your Christmas cactus. “But Dr O”, you might ask, “don’t we need a fully equipped laboratory and a set of pipettes and a lot of other expensive biotechnology stuff to…

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The Science of Christmas Trees Part 2

There has been quite a high interest in the science of Christmas trees, and therefore I decided to dedicate another post to this season’s VIP (Very Important Plant). To start with some proper Botany, take a look at this very…

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It could have been “O Mistletoe”

This nice video by Kew Gardens explains the traditions behind decorating our houses with Christmas trees, holly and mistletoe. What do these plants symbolise and what is their history? How can they be used as medicine? Where can you find…

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What grows on ice fields?

Can you name the four that things plants need to grow? Now imagine these resources an environment like the Arctic, where temperatures can drop below −50 °C. Sir David Attenborough explains in this video how some plants manage to survive…

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The Science of Christmas Trees

Ecologist Dr Markus Eichhorn talks about the different christmas tree species, how they cope with the central heating in your home and why he prefers natural christmas trees to artificial ones.

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Plants Fight Back

“Because a plant can’t move away from predators, they’ve evolved to become fortresses, with a whole line up of defences from the obvious, like spines, to the subtle, such as poisons that render insects infertile. This article looks at some…

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