Question: My nectarine and peach trees have hard pale green ball things near the base of leaves. What are they and are they harmful to my trees? Answer: How cool! I’d never heard of anything like this ...

Around 4,000 plant species from different parts of the world secrete nectar outside their flowers, such as on their stems or leaves, through secretory glands known as extrafloral nectaries. Unlike ...

To make sure that flying pollinators come to flowers to pick up pollen, plants evolved special organs, the nectaries, to attract the animals. Scientists have now identified the sugar transporter that ...

Ant–plant mutualisms constitute a compelling model of coevolution, whereby plants have evolved specialised structures, notably extrafloral nectaries (EFNs), to entice ants that in turn afford ...

Flowers get all the attention when it comes to providing nectar for pollinating insects, but Tino shows another, less well-known source of nectar. They’re called extra-floral nectaries - quite a ...

Between rain showers one day this week, I went out into the front yard and snipped off the upper halves of several common milkweeds. But, I wasn't purposely destroying beneficial plants. This patch of ...

If the bittersweet nightshade (Solanum dulcamara) is consumed by herbivores, the plant secretes a nectar directly from the wounds that attracts ants and thus protects the plant from further feeding ...

Evolution is based on diversity, and sexual reproduction is key to creating a diverse population that secures competitiveness in nature. Plants as largely immobile organisms had to solve a problem: ...