Pushy Plants? Student Discovery ‘Adds New Dimension to Plant Biology’

A new University of Florida study has found that a local plant, the tall elephant’s foot, can be pushy — which wasn’t previously known.

The research, conducted by mathematics and botany senior Camille Sicangco, has been accepted for publication in Current Biology and shows the plant exerts force on its own, not just in response to external forces such as climate and soil.

Learning that native plants aren’t always passive “adds a new dimension to plant biology”, says Francis E. “Jack” Putz, a UF botany professor who advised Sicangco’s research.

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