Source: The Conversation – UK – By Richard Milne, Senior Lecturer in Plant Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh
The wildflowers of Britain include all manner of treasures – yet many people are only aware of a few, such as bluebells and foxgloves. A lot of its other flora are rare because of Britain’s location at the northern, western or even southern edges of their natural geographic – and hence climatic – ranges.
In fact, Britain has over 1,000 native species of wildflower, including 50 kinds of orchid, a few species like sundew that use sticky tentacles to eat insects, and others such as toothwort that live as parasites, plugging their roots into other plants to suck on their sap like botanical mosquitoes. There are even a few species, such as the ghost and bird’s-nest orchids, that extort all their food from soil fungi.
Many people think of plants as nice-looking greens. Essential for clean air, yes, but simple organisms. A step change in research is shaking up the way scientists think about plants: they are far more complex and more like us than you might imagine. This blossoming field of science is too delightful to do it justice in one or two stories.
This story is part of a series, Plant Curious, exploring scientific studies that challenge the way you view plantlife.
I’ve been an obsessive plant hunter since I was seven years old. Wishing to
– ref. What I’ve learned from photographing (almost) every British wildflower – https://theconversation.com/what-ive-learned-from-photographing-almost-every-british-wildflower-263656