In a new study, researchers report sequencing the species' genome
Plants are some of nature's most extraordinary chemists. Unlike animals, they can't run from predators or pathogens. They can't uproot themselves to seek out a mate or spread their seeds.
So instead, they manufacture chemicals: toxins to kill bacteria. Bitter alkaloids to ward off herbivores. Sweet nectar and jewel-colored pigments to draw in pollinators or birds that can help disperse seeds. Chemicals, you could say, are one of a plant's ways of making love and war. But how did trees, shrubs and flowers obtain these capabilities?
In a new study, scientists explore this question through the evolution of the gardenia, Gardenia jasminoides, an evergreen shrub with white flowers that's planted as an ornamental in the tropics.
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