Salicaceae

What science is finding about Salicaceae

Every article on Plant News that mentions a member of this family, newest first.

Latest finding

Bug's skin bacteria get stronger at fighting disease when it's hot

Scientists found that a willow leaf beetle's skin-dwelling bacteria protect it from a deadly fungal infection, and the bacteria actually get better at fighting off disease as temperatures rise during heatwaves.

Willow

Poplar trees reroute a growth hormone to build stronger wood

The way a leaning tree in your yard thickens up on one side to right itself is driven by this exact hormone-routing switch, so...

Poplar plant-signaling / crispr

Plants can now flip a genetic switch in soil bacteria

If you've ever wished your garden's beneficial soil microbes would kick into gear right when your tomatoes need them, this is...

Poplar crop-improvement / soil-health

Poplar trees send slow electric signals when bent or stressed

The next time wind bends the sapling you planted last spring, its trunk is running an internal electrical report on exactly...

Poplar plant-signaling / climate-adaptation

Just the right amount of leaf litter speeds up pollution cleanup

The leaf pile you rake into your compost bin isn't just yard waste, it's the same kind of organic matter that researchers used...

Poplar phytoremediation / soil-health

Five new root bacteria genomes mapped from poplar trees

The microbes clinging to a poplar's roots help the tree pull nutrients from soil and resist stress, and these newly cataloged...

Eastern Cottonwood soil-health / mycorrhizal-networks

Trees use a hormone switch to soften wood under stress

The leaning trunk or wind-bent branch in your yard is quietly rewriting its own wood chemistry in real time, dialing lignin...

Black Cottonwood plant-signaling / crispr

Gene editing trees without foreign DNA still hits roadblocks

The apples, poplars, and grapevines in orchards and windbreaks near you could one day be bred for disease resistance or...

Poplar crispr / crop-improvement

Frémont cottonwood confirmed growing along the road into Zion National Park

If you hike the Virgin River corridor near Zion, the broad, triangular-leaved cottonwoods lining the water are Frémont...

Fremont cottonwood native-plants / urban-ecology

In hybrid poplars, one parent's genes speak louder than the other's

If you've ever grafted or bred plants and wondered why offspring favor one parent's traits over the other, this cottonwood...

Fremont cottonwood plant-signaling / crop-improvement

Stressed plants change their pace, not their playbook

The drought-stressed tree in your yard or the salt-stressed seedling on your patio isn't improvising some new survival...

Poplar climate-adaptation / plant-signaling

Verified black cottonwood spotted growing in British Columbia town

Black cottonwoods are one of the fastest-growing native trees in western North America, and every confirmed sighting like this...

Black Cottonwood native-plants / phenology

Quaking aspen confirmed growing in a Utah mountain town

If you're hiking or gardening near Bear Lake, this confirms the shimmering, coin-shaped leaves you're seeing overhead are...

Quaking aspen native-plants / phenology

CRISPR gene editing could speed up breeding drought-tough forest trees

The poplar, pine, or eucalyptus stands you hike through could someday be bred for drought resistance in a fraction of the time...

Poplar crispr / climate-adaptation

eco

Mountain willow disabled half its stress-defense enzymes to survive

The willow shrubs you might spot clinging to a rocky alpine slope have quietly sacrificed some core chemistry to cope with...

Salix brachista (mountain willow) climate-adaptation / native-plants

Pine gene makes poplar branches upright, but not the reverse

The difference between a tree that grows narrow and upright versus one that spreads wide comes down to genetic switches like...

Poplar crispr / plant-signaling

A single eucalyptus gene reshapes how wood builds itself

The next time you notice how differently a eucalyptus trunk feels from an oak's, a gene like this one is part of the reason,...

Poplar crop-improvement / plant-signaling

A gene unique to rice makes crops drought-tough across species

If you've ever watched tomatoes wilt in a summer dry spell, this points to a gene that could someday get bred or engineered...

Poplar crop-improvement / climate-adaptation

One gene lets trees make both wood fiber and vitamin C

The next time you tap a maple or admire a tree's tough bark, you're seeing the output of a single gene family that also...

Poplar crispr / crop-improvement

Scientists decode the shared genetic blueprint behind all tree wood

Every fence post, sheet of paper, and shade tree on your street relies on a wood-building process that this research just...

Poplar crop-improvement / climate-adaptation

New lab trick pulls more gene-control data from plant cells

The next breakthrough in drought-tolerant crops or disease-resistant trees may hinge on lab techniques like this one, which...

Poplar plant-signaling / crop-improvement

Two-guide CRISPR tool makes gene knockouts in poplar trees far simpler

Poplars are among the fastest-growing trees used for biofuels and carbon sequestration, and sharper gene-editing tools mean...

Poplar crispr / woody-plants

Soil and leaf bacteria together shield poplar trees from fungal blight

Poplar trees line city streets, buffer agricultural fields, and anchor riparian corridors across temperate regions, and the...

Poplar biocontrol / soil-health

Poplar trees use a protein switch to safely store cadmium in contaminated soil

Poplar trees planted along old industrial corridors and contaminated lots could be doing far more cleanup work than previously...

Poplar phytoremediation / plant-signaling

Zinc deficiency and toxicity: How they reshape the Laccaria bicolor x Populus symbiosis

Poplar trees planted along roadsides and in contaminated urban soils face wildly fluctuating zinc levels — understanding how...

Poplar mycorrhizal-networks / soil-health

Temporal dynamics of rhizosphere microbiome assembly and carbon-phosphorus coupling in poplar-medicinal plant intercropping systems.

If you're planting a food forest or hedgerow, the herbs and perennials you tuck between your trees aren't just filling space —...

Poplar soil-health / food-forest

Zinc deficiency and toxicity: How they reshape the Laccaria bicolor x Populus symbiosis

Poplar groves planted to clean up zinc-contaminated industrial sites depend on underground fungal partners to survive — and...

Poplar mycorrhizal-networks / phytoremediation

Interaction between rhizobacterial community and host root metabolism influences poplar salt tolerance.

The trees lining salinized roadsides and degraded farmland edges aren't just enduring the salt — some are quietly recruiting...

Poplar soil-health / climate-adaptation

The miR396d-PagGRF20-PagXTH5 module regulates salt tolerance in poplar.

Poplar trees planted for bioenergy or windbreaks on salted roadsides and degraded farmland could soon be bred to thrive where...

Poplar climate-adaptation / crop-improvement

Yeast species interactions and composition modulate leaf rust severity in Populus trichocarpa.

The wild black cottonwood trees lining Pacific Northwest rivers and riparian trails are silently shaped by invisible yeast...

Black Cottonwood plant-microbiome / soil-health

CHD-18g-modulated Pseudomonas taxa support poplar salt tolerance.

Poplar trees planted along roadsides and in restored wetlands are quietly recruiting their own bacterial allies through root...

Poplar soil-health / climate-adaptation

Lead remediation capabilities of three shrub willow clones and the cellular, physiological and molecular responses of Salix integra to Lead stress.

If you live near a busy road or old industrial site, shrub willows planted along the boundary could quietly pull toxic lead...

Dappled Willow phytoremediation / soil-health

Species-specific, accession-specific, and common responses of foliar phytohormones and morphological traits to drought and herbivory.

Tansy, bittersweet nightshade, and black poplar each mount a chemically distinct defense when bugs and dry spells hit together...

Black Poplar plant-signaling / climate-adaptation

Conserved C3H/APX bifunctionality coordinates lignin deposition and plant growth in Brachypodium and Populus.

Poplar and other fast-growing trees used in bioenergy and timber production could be precisely engineered for softer lignin —...

Poplar crispr / lignin-biosynthesis

Xylem endophytes of Salicaceae: potential role in mitigating disease symptoms from Xylella fastidiosa or Brenneria salicis.

Willow and poplar trees lining your local stream or planted as windbreaks face a growing threat from stealth pathogens that...

Willow biocontrol / soil-health

PagMYB74 orchestrates flavonoid-mediated plant-microbe feedback for drought resilience in poplar.

Poplar trees lining your streets or growing along riverbanks are quietly directing underground bacterial communities using...

Poplar climate-adaptation / soil-health

The PtoTCP19-PtoOBE2 complex orchestrates phosphate deficiency tolerance and biomass production in Populus.

Phosphorus-starved soils limit the growth of trees in parks, urban forests, and managed woodlands, so boosting trees' natural...

Poplar plant-signaling / soil-health

The Effects of Biochar on the Revival and Performance of an Organohalide-Respiring Mixed Culture.

Chlorinated solvents from dry cleaners and industrial sites quietly seep into the groundwater that feeds your tap, and...

Poplar phytoremediation / soil-health

Sulfur nanoparticles enhance Cd-phytoremediation in Salix chaenomeloides via alleviating phytotoxicity and modulating rhizosphere microbiota.

Contaminated soil near industrial areas, old farms, and urban parks can silently poison the food we grow and the water we...

Willow phytoremediation / soil-health

Enhancing CRISPR-Cas12a base editing in plants with LbCas12a variants and introns.

Better gene-editing tools bring us closer to crops that can survive drought, resist pests, or tolerate herbicides — meaning...

Poplar crispr / crop-improvement

Sex-Specific Root Strategies Drive Asymmetric Nitrogen Transfer via Common Mycorrhizal Networks Under Nitrogen Deficiency in Populus cathayana.

Trees in your local park or forest aren't just passively growing side by side — they're engaged in a complex, sex-driven...

Poplar mycorrhizal-networks / soil-health

An eco-friendly alkaline lignin/sodium alginate/β-cyclodextrin composite hydrogel for enhanced foliar deposition and sustained control of Botrytis cinerea with azoxystrobin.

Researchers developed an eco-friendly composite hydrogel that delivers fungicide more effectively to plant leaves while...

Poplar crop-improvement / sustainable-agriculture

PtrSHR1 coordinates vascular cambium proliferation and xylem lignin biosynthesis to regulate wood formation in Populus trichocarpa.

Trees in your local park, the wood in your furniture, and the paper in your books all depend on the same biological process...

Black Cottonwood crispr / plant-signaling

Tolerance and trace elements extraction of Alliaria petiolata and Salix aquatica grandis under increased Cd(II) and Zn(II) exposure.

Contaminated soil near old industrial sites, roads, or farms can silently poison food crops and groundwater — and these plants...

Willow phytoremediation / soil-health

Transgene-free genome editing in citrus and poplar meristem tissues via biolistic ribonucleoprotein delivery of CRISPR-Cas9.

It opens a path to developing disease-resistant citrus trees and faster-growing poplars without the 'GMO' label — meaning...

Poplar crispr / crop-improvement