Greyscale map of the Lesser Sunda islands (the island chain between Bali and Timor) with orange dots representing mapped herbarium specimen collections

New paper! A checklist of the plants endemic to the Lesser Sunda Islands (S Indonesia and Timor-Leste). For conservation we need to know where these plants are and if they are threatened, and we know so little about either. 51 species haven't been seen in >120 years!
doi.org/10.3897/phyt...

Eastern skunk cabbage blooms early as it melts its way out of winter. Its fleshy inflorescence generates heat, melts snow, & releases a pungent odor that attracts flies & beetles when little else is available. Often called a “famine food,” it’s toxic & required repeated boiling to become palatable.

Fritillaria rhodia

Small in terms of how humans view the world. Large in terms of beauty though.

#RhodesOrchidOdyssey #FritsAndFarMoreThanOrchids

Starch hyacinth (Hyacintruus racemosus), 1791

Daily botanical illustration from Curtis's Botanical Magazine.

Starch hyacinth (Hyacintruus racemosus)

The Botanical magazine; or, Flower-garden displayed, volume 4, 1791

#magazine #artist #plants #curtis #botany

*Hyacinthus racemosus aka Muscari racemosum aka Muscari neglectum

What is this small strange looking thing? It's a fruiting Allium chamaemoly, an early flowering dwarf garlic of open places in Mediterranean vegetation.

Neapolitan star of Bethlehem (Ornithogalum nutans), 1794

Daily botanical illustration from Curtis's Botanical Magazine.

Neapolitan star of Bethlehem (Ornithogalum nutans)

The Botanical magazine; or, Flower-garden displayed, volume 8, 1794

#magazine #artist #plants #curtis #botany

Galanthus reginae-olgae subsp. vernalis is a most common #snowdrop in coastal parts of Montenegro. So happy to catch it still in bloom. Its foliage is very distinct with an impression of median white stripe such as in Crocus or Ornithogalum.

Speaking of Ranunculaceae early bloomers, two early spring species of #Anemone (A. hortensis and A. apennina) are flowering just now in pastures and forests of western Balkan #Montenegro

Adonis vernalis, another early bloomer of dry grasslands in northern Pannonia

Here they are: first Fritillaria meleagris are flowering 💐

#wildflowers #botany

Pulsatilla grandis, one of the early bloomers in dry grassland habitats in northern Pannonia

Nice overview of #Gagea bohemica by @milanchytry.bsky.social Just want to add that our ongoing reasearch indicates that this particular type with wide tepals and almost glabrous stems is probably endemic to Bohemia and northern part of Pannonia.
You can read more here doi.org/10.1007/s006...

Our paper on evolution of sexual vs. apomictic genotypes in Rubus ser. Glandulosi is now free to read @annbot.bsky.social

Monotropa callistoma is a newly discovered ghost plant from China that doesn’t need sunlight to grow!

Curious to find out more? Read on here: doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.271.177609

Today, we bring you the largest wild orchid you can find in Portugal, Barlia robertiana, photographed in a meadow in Lordemão and Souselas 🌿

A remarkable Mediterranean species, standing out for its size and dense inflorescences.

So many interesting studies on #Monocots @phytokeys.pensoft.net lately😍 Here is the digest👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻

In Europe, only a few N American asters (Symphyotrichum) are naturalised or cultivated, with some exhibiting invasive behaviour & others misidentified. How do we fix this? Understanding their cytogeography (distribution of gene complexes), as done here along the Danube...🧪🌍
doi.org/10.1093/botl...

Some winter flowers in @botanickazahradauk.bsky.social
#Hamamelidaceae #Prague #Czechia

PhD on Begonia speciation at RBGE/Glasgow! Looking at the genomics of reproductive isolation and how fast it evolves - is it the reason this is one of the largest genera of flowering plants?
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Fig. 1 Inflorescences of Dactylanthus taylorii (upper panel), Hachettea austrocaledonica (lower left), and Mystropetalon thomii (lower right).

Evidence for plastome loss in the holoparasitic Mystropetalaceae

A #Letter by Yu et al. 👇

📖 nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

#LatestIssue #PlantScience

The evolutionary mysteries of a rare parasitic plant New study maps the strange genomes of Asia-Pacific Balanophora species, giving new insights into the evolution of parasitic plants and an unconventional role of plastids.

The rare, mushroom-like Balanophora plant surprises researchers with their genetic makeup and unconventional role of plastids in biosynthesis, despite being entirely parasitic of a select few trees. New study in @newphyt.bsky.social 👇 www.oist.jp/news-center/...

🌿 Coming soon: Preslia 97(4)! Three new papers shed light on biodiversity loss, plant evolution and overlooked drivers of plant invasions:
🔹 Pannonian sand grasslands lose specialists due to succession and eutrophication

New critically endangered ‘fairy lantern’ discovered in Malaysia Just 20 individuals of the unusual species are known to exist in the wild.

Researchers in Malaysia have discovered an incredible new endemic ‘fairy lantern’ species with fewer than 20 individuals known to exist in the wild.

🔗 Learn all about it on the @pensoft.net blog: blog.pensoft.net/2025/12/02/n...

Illustration showing a person examining a plant with text about the scarcity of plant taxonomists worldwide.

Plant taxonomy is disappearing - and so is our ability to protect species 🍂

Nearly half of countries have fewer than 10 plant taxonomists. Kew is working to close the gap, but we need more experts fast.

Read the study’s key findings and what we're doing about it 👇
https://ow.ly/XhJo50XyGAa

Orchis anatolica sharing space with Muscaris & Ornithogalums.

Taken during one of the @Greenwings #orchid tours.

#RhodesOrchidOdyssey #OrchidsOfRhodes #BotanicalTour