Stories Tagged ‘Botany’

Living on the (Botanical) Edge

July 26, 2012 - Filed under: Environmental, Physical/Natural Science | Tagged: , ,

John Clark doesn’t seem like a violent man. Yet, a group once wondered aloud whether he was one of those “foreigners who kills people and puts them in boiling water and extracts their fat to cook with.”

Discovering Diversity

September 15, 2008 - Filed under: Environmental, Physical/Natural Science, Technology | Tagged: , ,

When some people refer to "rural," you think of farmland just outside small-town Alabama. When John Clark refers to "rural," he's talking two days' travel from the nearest road.

Growing Where None Dare Grow Before

August 25, 2008 - Filed under: Environmental, Physical/Natural Science | Tagged: , ,

While many of us are concentrating on beating the heat as temperatures near triple digits, a University of Alabama botanist is focused on helping plants better withstand the cold.

UA Biologist Explores ‘Abominable Mystery’ that is the World of Flowers

October 21, 2002 - Filed under: Environmental, Physical/Natural Science | Tagged: , ,

It's commonly known as Japanese sweet flag, although scientists call it acorus. Prior to blooming, this plant's long, narrow, dark green blades remind the untrained of monkey grass. However, in the laboratories of The University of Alabama's Dr. David Oppenheimer, and in labs at three other prominent U.S. universities, this ordinary looking plant — and the nine other plant species under the researchers' scrutiny — is likely to give scientists new insights into the "abominable mystery" that is this planet's plant life.