Welcome to Our World

Independent journalism on unique plant traits, plant adaptations, and ancient natural history discoveries.

The official quarterly publication of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History Department of Botany, diving deep into natural history research and plant taxonomy.

Curated by the American Society of Plant Biologists, this site breaks down complex new research regarding plant circadian clocks, adaptations, and forest ecology.

Hosted by botanist Matt Candeias, this premier website (which also has a podcast and blog) focuses entirely on making botany exciting. It features deep-dive interviews with researchers, exploring the evolutionary wonders, complex defense mechanisms, and natural history of global flora.

This is an excellent site for the public about climate change and how NASA is studying it using satellites and remote sensing. It also provides an excellent introduction to the science of climate change.

The group works to protect native plants from extinction in the face of climate change, habitat loss, and impacts of invasive pl ants and animals.

This is the site of the US Botanic Gardens, which conducts research on endangered

and threatened plant species from around the world. It’s greenhouses are located near the US Capital and worth a visit if you are in the area.

A World Resources International site devoted to the status and preservation of forests

around the world.

A 281-acre preserve in the heart of Boston, the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University stewards one of the world’s most comprehensive and best documented collections of temperate woody plants, with particular focus on the floras of eastern North America and eastern Asia. It also is the site of the longest continuous measurements of the timing of fall leaf color (no longer being observed though).

This is a program similar to the Champion Tree Program in the US that tracks the largest and oldest trees in the United Kingdom.

This site maintains records on record tree species worldwide, such as the tallest, largest, and oldest trees on Earth. A very interesting and informative site.

This is the original and largest tree-ring laboratory in the United States. Researchers use tree rings to learn about past climates and how they affect tree growth and to predict what future climate change may do to tree growth and survival.