Every third-grader knows that plants absorb nutrients from the soil through their roots. The fact that they also release substances into the soil is probably less well known. And this seems to make ...

Maize roots secrete certain chemicals that affect the quality of soil. In some fields, this effect increases yields of wheat planted subsequent to maize in the same soil by more than 4%. While the ...

In 1716, Cotton Mather described maize which Americans call corn and pumpkins which are also known as squash as hybrid plants. On longer evolutionary time scales, hybridisation can lead to local ...