The Australian Eucalyptus tree fights for space and territory like most other plants and animals. But it does this in a pretty incredible way. You see, the Eucalyptus is designed to both encourage a fire and flourish afterwards so that it’s the last one standing. Eucalyptus oil, which gives the trees its spicy smell, is really flammable - sometimes it is carried in the heat in smoggy clouds in the air. Their leaves are so full of poisonous napalm (a highly flammable liquid sometimes used in wars) that bugs and fungus don't break them down. So they just dry out and cover the forest floor. Its bark peels off in long streamers that encourage a fire to spread further and in particularly dry, windy weather, Eucalyptus trees have been known to blow up! Scary stuff - hey?! The story doesn’t end there though as Eucalyptus trees have stems deep inside their trunks ready to spring out once the smoke settles. Plus their seeds open up when burned and they love ash-rich soil. So it’s no wonder that many Australians have called the fiery Eucalyptus, a ‘Gasoline tree’! 

Scientists have long known that plants have light receptors in their stems, leaves and flowers to absorb sunlight. This process is commonly known as photosynthesis and enables plants to react Carbon Dioxide with water to make a sugar called glucose. Glucose is stored and used to help the plant grow and flourish. Oxygen is the waste product that we humans and animals depend on too. Recently, though, researchers in Seoul University in South Korea have dug a little deeper (get it?!) and found that the Arabidopsis Thaliana plant, has a stem that acts like a fibre-optic cable. (You know, like what many fake, light-up Christmas trees are made of!) This allows light to transfer down through the roots helping them to grow. Unfortunately, though, the light’s intensity is so low that you’re not going to see the soil light up anytime soon nor will there will be light parties for moles and other creatures! Can you imagine?! But it's interesting to think about how there might be other, clever ways that plants use sunlight to help them grow.  

The Javan Cucumber vine has wings…literally! Their seeds are shaped a bit like mini boomerangs and have been shown to fly up to 100 metres gliding on air currents. This means the plant can reproduce and grow all across a large space- not always competing with other species in the same area. In fact, these seeds are so good at flying that they inspired some of the earliest designs for aeroplanes. Igo Etrich, one of the first pioneers of flight, based his glider designs on the shape of these type of seeds.  

Venus Fly Traps – and other meat-eating plants- go way back! They originally evolved from a simpler version of the plant which had sticky leaves. But the need to hunt and eat even larger prey has made the plant slowly evolve and improve its tactics. They have trigger hairs that sense when something is inside its mouth-like trap, and teeth to catch and prevent its prey from escaping. The Venus Fly trap shuts around an insect in just 0.3 seconds or faster! Biologist, Charles Darwin was particularly fascinated by them. Some think this is because they go against what we usually expect of plants i.e. to be silent, still and harmless. Instead, the Venus flytrap moves like a skilful, wild animal quickly catching and eating its prey.