Annals of Botany

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International journal publishing novel and rigorous research in all areas of plant science, managed by the Annals of Botany Company, a not-for-profit educational charity.

Cover Image: Deadly Nightshade (Atropa bella-donna) by Sébastien SANT CC BY-NC 4.0
Cover Image: The modern tropical paradise of Koh Mak, Thailand. Source: Wikimedia Commons / Vyacheslav Argenberg
Figure showing a comprehensive, schematic infographic that provides an overview of Cerrado plants adaptations to water stress, fire regimes, poor and acidic soils and metabolic responses.
Figure showing from left-to-right, chronological timeline that visually synthesizes the major historical phases of human occupation, scientific development, and environmental transformation in the Cerrado biome of central Brazil.
Figure showing the characteristics of natural (evolutionary and climate-synchronized) and human-caused fires (high frequency and ecological disruption).
Figure showing functional plant traits linked to drought and fire tolerance.
Figure showing, in panels, information on trees and shrubs, sub-shrubs and herbs, 4 grasses, and seedless groups in terms of species numbers, proportions across different 5 Cerrado physiognomies.
Figure showing the location of the Cerrado within Brazil.
Cerrado's long arc of time: from past evolution to modern environmental changes
Cover Image: Psilophyton crenulatum emergences as seen in Figure 9C of Doran and Tomescu 2026 (CC BY)
Cover image: S. Rae via iNaturalist CC BY 4.0
Sugar maple.
Figure showing present ecoregions with >10 publications, hence there is a difference in scale on y-axis between b and c. Some publications provide data from multiple ecoregions and are included in more than one region.
Figure showing how rhodolith beds benefit people and nature. Rhodolith beds provide a wide range of ecosystem services. They support fisheries and aquaculture by offering nursery, feeding and shelter habitats for fish, shellfish and other marine life. They contribute to nutrient cycling, oxygen production and the formation of calcium carbonate, helping build complex seafloor habitats. Rhodolith-derived carbonate is also used as a mineral supplement in agriculture and industry. In some areas, carbonate sediments originating from rhodolith beds help stabilize beaches and coastlines. These habitats also support abundant seaweeds and provide opportunities for recreational activities such as fishing. The colored circles indicate different types of ecosystem services: green = provisioning services (products obtained from nature), pink = regulating and maintenance services (processes that sustain healthy ecosystems), and blue = cultural services (non-material benefits such as recreation).
Maerl from Sweden showing coralline algal thalli that are unattached to any other substrata. Photo by Alexander Ahl.
Rhodoliths from Zanzibar showing coralline algae encrusting small pebbles and shells. Photo by Lina Rasmusson
An assessment of rhodolith bed ecosystem services. Photo: Norwegian maerlbed supporting echinoderms in a high biodiversity hotspot, by Elias Neuman
Figure showing non-structural carbohydrate (NSC) concentrations (%) in Nothofagus pumilio growing along temperature gradients in two sites in the southern Andes of Chile. NSC concentrations were measured in leaves, twig sapwood and stem sapwood, and compared among trees growing at different elevations, among trees of different relative heights within each elevation, and between the lower and upper parts of the same tree crown (leaves and twig sapwood only). Different letters indicate statistically significant differences in NSC concentrations (p < 0.05), with bold letters referring to Cerro Castillo National Park and regular letters to Coyhaique National Reserve.
Figure showing growth of Nothofagus pumilio across temperature gradients in two sites in the southern Andes of Chile. The graphs show current-year shoot length (cm) and basal area increment over the past 10 years (BAI₁₀; cm²). Different letters indicate statistically significant differences in growth among temperature gradients (p < 0.05), with bold letters referring to Cerro Castillo National Park and regular letters to Coyhaique National Reserve.
Nothofagus pumilio treeline in the southern Andes of Chile. The treeline here is composed of tree individuals not taller than 3 m. The lower layer of short shrubs is composed of Gaultheria pumila and Empetrum rubrum (Ericaceae); b) a Nothofagus pumilio krummholz near the temperature station pole.
Nothofagus pumilio forest in Patagonia, in autum. Credits: Canva.
The role of elevation, tree height, and crown position on the carbon balance of trees at the southern Andes treeline. Image credits: Canva.
The cover illustration shows a pangenome-informed landscape of WRKY structural diversity and regulatory functions across Oleaceae. A circos plot illustrates multi-genome integration and structural variation. Bouquets of Oleaceae flowers represent pigmentation, scent, and stress adaptation, while WRKYGQK-marked butterflies depict WRKY binding and regulatory networks that connect genomic variation with downstream metabolic pathways and adaptive phenotypes. [See Fang et al., pp. 2041—2054.]
Figure with four panels showing (A) distribution of trait records across different plant trait categories in the Cerrado Plant Trait Database. (B) The 20 plant traits with the greatest number of records. (C) Venn diagram showing how trait records overlap among different trait categories. (D) Number of species with available data for each trait category.
Figure with four panels showing (A) distribution of plant trait data across the evolutionary tree of flowering plants. Blue bars indicate the amount of trait information available for each plant group, with taller bars representing more records. (B–D) The 20 plant families (B), genera (C), and species (D) with the highest number of trait records in the Cerrado Plant Trait Database.
Physiognomic variation of the Brazilian Cerrado. William Bond in campo sujo (A), campo limpo in Central (B) and southeastern Brazil (C). Typical cerrado sensu stricto Cerrado (D), cerradão woodlands (E) and gallery forest (F). Overview of a Cerrado landscape showing habitat heterogeneity (G), which includes wetlands (H) and rocky outcrop vegetation (I). Cerrado Plant Traits aims to provide data on all plant organs to allow future analyses of trait integration. Photos by Alessandra Fidelis (A, C, G), Natália Medeiros (B), Davi Rossatto (D, E, F), and Lara Amaral-Garcia (I). Illustration by Raissa Jardim.
Cerrado landscape. Credits: Canva
Cerrado plant traits (CPT): a database of functional traits across vegetation types in a global biodiversity hotspot
Figure showing floral visitors of Drosera hookeri. A: Simosyrphus grandicornis (Diptera: Syrphidae), B: Melangyna viridiceps (Diptera: Syrphidae), C: Lasioglossum brunnesetum (Hymenoptera: Halictidae), D: Geron sp. (Diptera: Bombyliidae), and E: Zizina otis (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae). Note the close proximity of flowers and trap leaves in A.
Figure showing a selection of prey from Drosera hookeri leaves. A, B and C: Simosyrphus grandicornis (Diptera: Syrphidae); D, E, and F: crane flies (Diptera: Tipuloidea), G: Zizina otis (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae), H: noctuid moth (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae); I: crane fly (Diptera: Tipuloidea) ; J: click beetle (Coleoptera: Elateridae); K: muscoid fly (Diptera: Muscidae) and L: Lasioglossum sp. (Hymenoptera: Halictidae).
Figure showing prey captured by Drosera hookeri leaves across six sampling periods at Tingha in 2007. The top panel shows the number of open flowers per plant; no flowering occurred during the first three sampling periods. Subsequent panels show the total number of prey per plant and the breakdown by insect order: Diptera, Hemiptera, Hymenoptera, Lepidoptera and Coleoptera. Boxplots show the median (horizontal line), interquartile range (box) and 1.5 x IQR (whiskers); individual data points are overlaid. Sample sizes per period are shown at the top of each panel. The shaded region indicates the flowering period. Sampling dates in 2007 for each period are: 1 = 13 September, 2 = 20-21 September, 3 = 29 September, 4 = 3-4 October, 5 = 10-13 October, 6 = 21 October. Period 5 combines data from two consecutive census dates (11 and 13 October 2007).
Figure with two panels showing A) Flower of Drosera hookeri at anthesis and B: 3 hours later when anthers have recurved towards the stigmas.
Floral visitor of Drosera hookeri. Simosyrphus grandicornis (Diptera: Syrphidae).
Fatal attraction: flowers lure pollinators as prey in the carnivorous Drosera hookeri (Droseraceae)
Dark blue graphic featuring the Annals of Botany logo at the top and the message "Thank You Paleobotany Week!" in large gold and orange lettering. Stylized illustrations of fossilized plant leaves embedded in rocks decorate the bottom left and bottom right corners, celebrating the conclusion of Paleobotany Week.
The discovery of Salvinia, Acrostichum, and a diverse fern-spore assemblage in the Ghazij Formation fills a major gap in the tropical Asian fossil record and shows that tropical fern ecosystems were already diverse and ecologically complex during the early Eocene.
A remarkably complete Early Cretaceous fossil plant from Arkansas offers the clearest picture yet of the extinct Cheirolepidiaceae, revealing this widespread conifer family as a key evolutionary bridge between ancient voltzialean conifers and modern crown-group conifers.
By combining hundreds of fossil fragments with quantitative morphometric analyses, this study reconstructs one of the most detailed whole-plant models of an Early Devonian vascular plant to date, providing a new framework for understanding the evolution and relationships of Earth’s earliest tracheophytes.
A reanalysis of Psilophyton crenulatum suggests that early euphyllophytes may have evolved unique rooting structures much earlier than previously thought, offering new insights into how the roots of modern ferns, horsetails, and seed plants first originated.
Nightshades are much older than we thought. New fossil-informed analyses push their origin back nearly 100 million years, reshaping the evolutionary timeline of one of the world’s most important plant families.
Some fossil leaves that resemble cycads actually belong to the distinct and now-extinct Noeggerathiales, revealing remarkable convergent evolution between unrelated plant groups. By disentangling these lookalike forms, this study refines how we identify fossil species and offers a clearer picture of plant diversity and extinction just before the Permian–Triassic crisis.
Early land plants didn’t just diversify, they first expanded their range of forms. In Zosterophyllum, innovations in structure, especially in reproductive features, appeared before the peak in species diversity, suggesting that exploring new morphologies set the stage for later evolutionary success.
The unusual stem structure of medullosans shows that early seed plants experimented with diverse and sophisticated growth strategies, many of which have no direct modern equivalent.
Despite dramatic evolutionary changes in size and form, Isoetales have maintained a remarkably consistent root pattern, suggesting a shared developmental mechanism that challenges long-held assumptions about their structure.
A remarkable new Antarctic fern fossil offers rare anatomical insight into the early evolution of Schizaeales, highlighting Antarctica’s potentially key role in the diversification of modern leptosporangiate ferns during the Cretaceous.
A newly discovered Swedish fossil flora captures how plants rebounded after the end-Triassic mass extinction, revealing resilient early Jurassic ecosystems shaped by conifers, ferns, and wildfire-prone landscapes.
By resolving decades of fossil misidentification, this study reveals a rare Cretaceous hornwort and a new liverwort species, offering fresh evidence that ancient bryophyte diversity and ecological partnerships closely resembled those seen today.
A rare Silurian plant fossil may reveal that some of Earth’s earliest land plants grew through an unusual “uncoiling” mechanism, offering new insight into how complex plant forms evolved from seemingly simple branching axes.
New fossil fern discoveries from Patagonia reveal that key tree fern lineages were already established in South America by the Cretaceous, shedding light on the deep evolutionary history and early diversification of modern fern families.
A review of spore ultrastructure reveals that multilamellated zones have persisted in lycopsids from the Devonian to the present. The study highlights their potential evolutionary significance, but also shows that their function and distribution remain poorly understood, pointing to key gaps in our knowledge of early plant reproduction.
A unique set of Miocene beech fossils from South China reveals a mix of ancient and modern traits within the genus Fagus. The study shows that while leaves and female structures remained relatively unchanged over millions of years, male reproductive features were more evolutionarily flexible, offering new insights into the diversification of beeches.
Fossil wood from Myanmar reveals that tropical Asian forests were shaped by ancient plant migrations from Gondwana. The study shows that some lineages spread from Africa to India and Southeast Asia during the early Palaeogene, forming a now-extinct floristic province that played a key role in the assembly of modern tropical floras.
Figure showing how the timing of planting influences how quickly weedy rice seeds lose dormancy. (A) The graph shows how seed germination changed over time after harvest for different types of weedy rice and a cultivated rice variety. Orange lines represent seeds produced by plants transplanted earlier in the season, while blue lines represent seeds from plants transplanted later. The shaded areas show the uncertainty around the estimates, and the symbols represent results from individual experimental replicates. Seeds produced under different seasonal conditions showed differences in how quickly they became able to germinate. (B) The chart shows the average temperatures experienced by mother plants during weeks 4–6 after flowering, a critical period for seed development. Plants transplanted at different times encountered different temperature conditions, helping explain the observed differences in seed dormancy. The dashed line marks the temperature above which maternal temperature effects on seed dormancy are expected to occur. Together, these results demonstrate that environmental conditions experienced by mother plants can influence the behaviour of the next generation of seeds.
Figure with two panels showing how the temperature experienced by mother plants affects seed germination over time. The graph shows how many weedy rice seeds germinated after different temperature conditions experienced by the mother plants during seed development. Each line represents a different temperature treatment, while the shaded areas show the uncertainty around the estimates. The symbols represent the germination results from individual experimental replicates. Seeds produced by plants exposed to high temperatures later in development remained dormant for longer and took more time to germinate after harvest.
Field experiments at Tsukuba-Kannondai experimental field at NARO, Japan. Credits: Gabriela Auge.
Figure showing the experimental, indicating when mother plants were exposed to high temperatures during seed development. The timeline represents the weeks after flowering. Orange bars indicate periods when plants experienced higher temperatures, while blue bars indicate normal growing conditions. Different treatments exposed plants to heat at different stages and for different lengths of time, allowing researchers to identify when developing seeds are most sensitive to temperature. By comparing these treatments, the study determined that exposure to high temperatures during the later stages of seed development has the strongest effect on how long seeds remain dormant after harvest.
Field infested with weedy rice.
A critical window of maternal temperature effects on weedy rice seed dormancy
Integrating fossil and living species reshapes how we interpret the evolution of key plant traits. By including fossils in phylogenetic analyses, the study shows that important aspects of morphological evolution in Cissampelideae would be misinterpreted if only modern species were considered, highlighting the critical role of fossils in reconstructing evolutionary history.