Top all-time · #6180
Matt Candeias
Personal blog · indefenseofplants.com/blogscience
Matt Candeias writes In Defense of Plants, a personal blog at indefenseofplants.com about science. Since 2017, 13 different Hacker News readers have linked it 14 times, most often “The Carnivorous Plant Guild Welcomes a New Member (2021)”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-11-01, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (7) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Matt Candeias's blog and its podcast for explainers on plants and ecology, such as bamboo lumber, eelgrass, invasive worms and ancient horsetails. Commenters mostly cite individual posts as sources.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 7 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
In Defense of Plants is brought to you by ecologist and botany-enthusiast, Matt Candeias, and aims to inspire people to care about plants as organisms.
Most-linked posts?
- The Carnivorous Plant Guild Welcomes a New Member (2021)2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2022-04-22
What Hacker News says?
There are actually American bamboos: https://www.guaduabamboo.com/blog/american-bamboo-species https://www.indefenseofplants.com/blog/2017/6/26/north-ameri...
Comment linking /blog/2017/6/26/north-americas-native-bamboos
on “How is bamboo lumber made? (2016)”Submitted How do palm trees survive hurricanes? (2017) as a story · 134 points
HN discussionHow would a flower get pollinated underwater? All of the aquatic plants I can think of float their flowers on the surface for pollination - even eelgrass, which technically flowers underwater ( https://www.indefenseofplants.com/blog/2019/8/14/eelgrass-se... )
Comment linking /blog/2019/8/14/eelgrass-sex-is-strange
on “An Aquatic Plant That Bloomed Underwater Was Among First Flowering Plants”Submitted The Carnivorous Plant Guild Welcomes a New Member (2021) as a story · 58 points
HN discussionI've really enjoyed the In Defense of Plants podcast and blog as a way of learning more about plants and ecology. https://www.indefenseofplants.com/podcast
Comment linking /podcast
on “Plant Blindness”Submitted A batpoo-eating pitcher plant as a story · 2 points
HN discussionMany parts of North America did not have earth worms before they were introduced by European settlers. It's a question of semantics, but it is often argued that almost all worms are invasive in the United States. The devil you know... "If you live in an area of North America where the glaciers once rested, there are no native terrestrial worms in your region. All of North America's native worm populations reside in…
Comment linking /blog/2017/5/3/invasion-of-the-earthworms
on “Invasive Jumping Worms (2020) [video]”Submitted Germinating a seed after 32000 thousand years as a story · 2 points
HN discussionThat's already happened - Rye is an example of Vavilovian mimicry[1][2], a crop that evolved to be hard for humans to distinguish from weeds. Thankfully, the selection pressure is also to be tasty and useful, as burning a field to prevent it's weeds from spreading remains a viable solution. [1] https://www.indefenseofplants.com/blog/2016/2/2/the-accident... [2] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vavilovian_mimicry
Comment linking /blog/2016/2/2/the-accidental-grain-how-rye-evolved-its-way-into-our-diet
on “Robot Uses Lasers to Kill 100k Weeds/Hour, Saving Land from Toxic Herbicides”Submitted A new carnivorous plant in western North America (2021) as a story · 1 points
HN discussionAround the same era, there were giant horsetails too -- up to 30m tall! https://www.indefenseofplants.com/blog/2015/5/21/ancient-equ...
Comment linking /blog/2015/5/21/ancient-equisetum
on “Long Before Trees Overtook the Land, Earth Was Covered by Giant Mushrooms (2013)”Submitted Cycads Aim to Reproduce in the UK for the First Time in 120M Years as a story · 1 points
HN discussionThe traveller tree looked the most interesting, like a peacock's feather. https://www.indefenseofplants.com/blog/2017/12/12/the-travel...
Comment linking /blog/2017/12/12/the-travelers-palm
on “Some Unusual Trees”Submitted Why Do Rhododendron Leaves Droop and Curl in the Winter? as a story · 1 points
HN discussion
