‘Monster plants’: an expert guide to alien invasive species and the epic battles they win

By Zarah Pattison, Senior Lecturer in Plant Sciences, University of Stirling

A lot of people think of plants as pretty to look at, but defenceless and passive as far as organisms go. However, the many alien species – or “monster plants” – around us show we should never underestimate plants and the fascinating battles that go on beneath our feet.

Many of the first alien plants – those introduced by humans outside their natural range – to arrive in the UK were brought back by plant hunters of the Victorian era.

Plants have adapted over millennia to their…

Read complete article

~	Indonesia’s BRICS agenda: 2 reasons Prabowo’s foreign policy contrasts with Jokowi’s

~	Rising Voices: Listening to the world on its own terms

~	Moldova has introduced a state of emergency in the energy sector

~	Syria: Rights investigators call for protection of evidence, including mass grave sites

~	Brazil Bans X from Using Children to Power Its AI

~	El Salvador: A thousand days into the state of emergency. “Security” at the expense of human rights.

~	Prince Andrew and the British establishment’s ‘target-rich environment’ for spies

~	Times journalists deemed ‘legitimate military targets’ – how Russia muzzles criticism at home and abroad

~	Climate, migration and conflict mix to create ‘deadly’ intense tropical storms like Chido

~	What the colour of your snot says about your immune health