Eastern Russian plant collection could improve cold hardiness in miscanthus
Tuesday, January 10, 2017 - 20:31
in Biology & Nature
Winters in eastern Russia are intensely cold, with air temperatures regularly reaching -30 degrees Fahrenheit in some locations. It is a seemingly inhospitable climate, but native plants have found ways to thrive there. A plant geneticist suspected one of these plants may hold the key to breeding cold-tolerant food and biomass crops. To find out, the modern-day botanical explorer set off across eastern Russia to collect specimens of the perennial grass Miscanthus sacchariflorus.