🌿🌊Annals of Botany invites submissions to a new Special Issue on "Macroalgae and ecosystem services", edited by AoB editors Mick Hanley and Kira Krumhansl and guest editor Louise Firth. (1/3)

RT @SiobhanLeachman: So very proud of this publication. It all started 'cause a group of us Wiki editors wanted to educate participants of….

🌴 Heading to Botany 2025 in Palm Springs?. Come visit the @annbot booth and meet our Chief Editor!. 📚 Get tips on publishing your research.📝 Learn what we look for in submissions.📢 Explore our Special Issue open calls. Let’s talk plant science. See you there!. #PlantScience

🌱 Don’t miss Dmitry’s talk “Cone morphology, development, and sporadic structural gynodioecy in Gnetales with an emphasis on Ephedra species from Israel” at #Botany2025 on July 29 at 8 am! (10/10). #PlantScience #Botany #Gnetales.

What advice would you give to young researchers interested in developmental and evolutionary morphology? “Be fascinated by plant diversity, look at plants in the field not only for doing science, but also for their beauty.” (9/10)

Could you share an experience that has reaffirmed your fascination with plants? “When I was 14, I was attending popular seminars for children. One day, we were told that we could broaden our experience by attend a field excursion in botany. That event made me a botanist. ”(8/10)

Is there a particular expedition that stands out to you? “Fieldwork in Northern Territory, Australia with Terry Macfarlane, Paula Rudall, Richard Bateman, and Margarita Remizowa. Fieldwork led by Professor Shrirang Ramchandra Yadav in Western Ghats, India. ”(7/10)

How international collaborations shaped your thinking and your science? “International collaboration is essential in any scientific research, and botany is not an exception. ” (6/10)

Why Gnetales are so fascinating in the context of plant reproductive evolution?“. the origin of Gnetales is enigmatic to the same degree as angiosperms. They share so many common traits but, interestingly, molecular phylogenetic data suggest they are not sister groups. ” 5/10

What are you most proud of accomplishing? “The collection of 18 joint papers with P. Rudall and many other colleagues of Hydatellaceae, tiny plants from Australia, India and New Zealand that belong to a near-basal lineage of flowering plants. ” (4/10)

Who have been the strongest influences on your career so far? “While a student I had the honour to learn from great teachers: Tatiana Kusnetzova, Alexander Timonin, Vladimir Filin, and Vadim Tikhomirov. then I met Paula Rudall and I have learned so much from her…”(3/10)

What inspired you to study plant evo-devo? “. I met my colleagues, Stefanie and Cecilia, for the first time at the IBC in Madrid, and we immediately realized that we would like to collaborate to study evo-devo in Ephedra, one of the most exciting plants in the world…” (2/10)

🎉Meet Dmitry Sokoloff, session chair & speaker at the @annbot sponsored symposium “Evolutionary history of the Gnetales” during Botany 2025, and researcher at Tel Aviv University. Get to know his passion for evo-devo biology 🧵.Se alt text for the full answers 1/10

🔥ADVANCE ACCESS🔥: Nuances of floral mimicry in Queen of Sheba orchids.

🌼This work helps clarify a long-standing confusion in terminology and developmental genetics and invites us to see the capitulum not as a compressed branch, but as a unique, flower-like innovation in the plant kingdom. (8/8). 👉 #PlantScience #Botany.

That shift allowed the capitulum to arise as a novel structure through heterochronic changes (changes in the timing of development). (7/8).

So what does this mean for evolution? The study challenges the idea that the capitulum evolved gradually from a thyrse (a branched inflorescence). Instead, they propose a single developmental shift: From indeterminate to determinate meristem. (6/8)

Results:.✔️ The capitulum meristem is determinate.✔️ It shows flower-like develgers spontaneous formation of flower meristems.✔️ Ray flowers form later, shaped by local mechanics (5/8)

Using SEM, the authors analyzed early capitulum development across 3 subfamilies and 11 tribes. They focused on meristem shape, expansion, and how ray flowers form. (4/8)

The key finding: the capitulum doesn’t arise from an inflorescence meristem (IM), but from a determinate floral unit meristem (FUM). This type of meristem shares traits with a flower, not an inflorescence. (3/8)

How did the iconic capitula of the sunflower family (Asteraceae) evolve? Traditionally, the capitulum has been interpreted as a condensed raceme, a compact inflorescence. This paper challenges the idea using morphological and developmental data across20 Asteraceae species. (2/8)