A seed is an enclosed, protected package of cells surrounding a miniature plant, the embryo, that can grow to form a copy of the plant bearing it. Seeds thus serve to spread and propagate plants, but they can also help the plant survive unfavorable...

Seeds are usually shed from their parent plant in a mature dry state. The dry seed contains an embryo that is the next generation of the plant in miniature. Before the seed can grow, however, it must first emerge from the seed and establish itself as...

Germination refers to the beginning of growth of a mature seed, to produce a small plant, or seedling. All seeds require access to adequate moisture and oxygen and a suitable temperature regime before they can germinate. The seeds of some species must...

Germination is the process whereby growth emerges from a period of dormancy. The most common example of germination is the sprouting of a seedling from a seed of an angiosperm or gymnosperm. However, the growth of a sporeling from a spore, for example...

A word to the wise men: The world may have plenty of gold and myrrh, but it could run short of frankincense.Trees in the Horn of Africa provide most of the world's supply of the prized incense that was carried to the infant Jesus by...

The wind-driven infernos that are scarring vast swaths of Southern California's landscape may leave more than just a temporary path of destruction when they are finally extinguished.The wildfires could leave a legacy of environmental devastation that will be evident for years to come, scientists say,...

A year after drought conditions left a dismal display of Texas wildflowers, the colorful roadside attractions are making a comeback.Bluebonnets have blossomed across Central Texas and in parts of North and East Texas that got winter rain, the critical time when the germinating flowers needed...

Cotton producer Weldon Melton has planted most of his fields, but the seedlings could be in trouble if cooler-than-normal temperatures continue.Melton, like a lot of farmers in the nation's leading cotton-producing state, has gone from dealing with brutal droughts in recent years to suddenly hoping...