About Plant News
Plant science discoveries, explained for people who love plants.
What is this?
Plant News is a knowledge graph that connects plant science research across journals, preprints, and citizen science observations. Every week, our pipeline pulls new discoveries from PubMed, bioRxiv, and iNaturalist, then synthesizes them into plain-language summaries so you don't have to read the papers yourself.
The result is a living web of 2603 articles, 1127 plant species, and 273 research topics — all cross-linked so you can follow the connections between discoveries.
How it works
1. Ingest
Every week we pull new plant research from PubMed, bioRxiv preprints, and iNaturalist citizen science observations.
2. Synthesize
AI reads each paper and creates a plain-language summary, key findings, and explains why it matters for gardeners and plant lovers.
3. Connect
Articles are linked to plant species, research topics, and related discoveries — surfacing connections no single source shows.
Our sources
The world's largest database of biomedical and life sciences research. We focus on plant biology, agriculture, botany, and ecology papers.
A citizen science platform where millions of naturalists document species observations worldwide. We track trending plant observations across North America.
A preprint server for biology. We catch plant science research before it's published in journals — often months ahead of formal publication.
Who runs this?
Plant News is a personal project by someone who loves plants and thinks scientific research should be accessible to everyone — not locked behind jargon and paywalls. The site runs mostly on autopilot: the pipeline does the heavy lifting, and a human checks in weekly to make sure everything looks right.
Share feedback or ideas
This site is a living project and we'd love to hear from you. Use the feedback form to request a plant you'd like us to track, suggest site improvements, or share general thoughts — we read everything. After reading an article you can also leave a quick reaction note to tell us what's useful or what you'd like to see more of.
Tag Evolution
Research topics on this site evolve automatically as new articles arrive. When a topic grows too broad, the system identifies natural sub-clusters and creates more specific tags. Here are recent changes:
Research documenting how warming temperatures and elevated CO2 are shifting plant bloom times, fruiting seasons, phys...
Genetic and genomic approaches—including CRISPR editing, epigenetic grafting, and pangenome tools—to develop climate-...
Community-contributed iNaturalist observations establishing verified species presence records and tracking plant dist...
Research on soil microbial communities, biological amendments, and intercropping systems to enhance agricultural prod...
Plant chemical communication for defense — volatile warning compounds, allelopathic exudates, and jasmonate/salicylat...
Signaling between plant roots and soil organisms — mycorrhizal networks, root exudate chemistry, rhizobacterial inter...
Physical and sensory signal transmission within plants — electrical impulses, acoustic emissions, phototropic respons...
Hormonal control of plant architecture and development — strigolactones, light-hormone integration via BBX factors, a...
Research on toxic chemicals and heavy metals in soil, and biological or chemical strategies to degrade or remove them.
Studies of soil microbial communities, mycorrhizal networks, rhizobacteria, and plant-microbe symbioses that shape pl...
Research on how plants and soils acquire, cycle, and retain macronutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen, sulfur) and strateg...
Articles about plants releasing chemical compounds that suppress, signal, or otherwise chemically interact with neigh...
Using CRISPR and transgenic approaches to directly engineer crop traits such as yield, nutrient content, herbicide to...
Harnessing soil bacteria, mycorrhizal fungi, endophytes, and biological amendments like biochar to boost crop perform...
Plant responses to drought, salinity, cold, and nutrient deficiency, including breeding, genomics, and physiological ...
Agronomic systems that use biodiversity and ecological principles — intercropping, companion planting, and organic am...
How plants communicate chemically with neighbors through volatile compounds, root exudates, and allelopathic substances.
Molecular mechanisms by which specific plant hormones — including jasmonates, strigolactones, salicylic acid, calcium...
Bidirectional signaling between plants and their associated microorganisms, including mycorrhizal networks, rhizobact...
Non-chemical signal transmission in plants, covering electrical impulses, ultrasonic acoustic emissions, and light-dr...
Field observations and experiments documenting how plants are altering their seasonal timing, fruiting patterns, and ...
Genetic engineering, genomics, and precision breeding approaches to develop crops that withstand drought, heat, cold,...
Carbon sequestration capacity and climate protection services delivered by plant ecosystems including seagrasses, man...
Community-reported and iNaturalist-verified species occurrence records documenting plant distributions, new range loc...
Research on toxic pollutants in soil and water — heavy metals, PFAS, antibiotics, and industrial chemicals — and biol...
Studies of beneficial soil microorganisms — mycorrhizal fungi, rhizobacteria, and endophytes — and how they interact ...
Research on how nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur, and other nutrients move through soil, plants, and ecosystems, includin...
Studies of plant-released chemicals that influence neighboring organisms, including root exudates, airborne volatile ...
Using CRISPR and genetic engineering to directly modify crop genetics for improved agronomic traits such as yield, nu...
Leveraging beneficial soil microorganisms, biochar, and biological amendments to improve crop yield, nutrient uptake,...
Identifying and engineering mechanisms for crops to withstand drought, salinity, cold, and elevated CO2 associated wi...
Applying pangenomics, transcriptomics, and molecular genetics to characterize crop diversity and accelerate breeding ...
Research on removing or degrading chemical pollutants (PFAS, heavy metals, antibiotics, microplastics) from soil, wat...
Documentation and analysis of non-native or range-expanding plant species colonizing new urban, suburban, and wild habitats.
iNaturalist research-grade observations and trending species reports contributed by community scientists across North...
Studies on how urban vegetation, wetlands, and coastal ecosystems provide measurable services such as cooling, carbon...
Research on plant hormone pathways — including jasmonates, strigolactones, salicylic acid, and calcium signaling — th...
Plant communication and competition through volatile organic compounds, root exudates, and allelopathic chemicals rel...
Molecular and chemical signaling between plants and their microbial partners, including mycorrhizal networks, rhizoba...
Electrical, acoustic, and light-mediated signaling mechanisms in plants, including phototropin pathways, action poten...