AI for Plants
AI reveals plant flowering shifts and extinction risk globally.
A global study using AI to analyze eight million digitized plant specimens has found that flowering times have shifted by 2.5 days per decade over the last century, threatening to break apart the relationships between plants and their pollinators. The findings are a centerpiece of the new "State of the World's Plants and Fungi" report from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, released on June 16, 2026, marking ten years since the first edition ITV News.
The report also sounds a stark alarm on what scientists don't yet know. Less than one-fifth of all plant species have been assessed for extinction risk. For fungi, that figure is just 0.6%. An estimated 100,000 plant species and two million fungi species remain entirely undiscovered Mirage News.
Kew Digitizes 7.4 Million Specimens in Four Years
The AI flowering study was made possible by a massive digitization effort. Over four years, Kew's team photographed, barcoded, and transcribed 7.4 million pressed plant leaves, flowers, seedheads, mushrooms, and spores — some dating back centuries. At its peak, the project imaged 100,000 specimens per week Botany One.
The £29.3 million project was funded partly by £10 million from the UK's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Nature Minister Mary Creagh scanned the final specimen herself. She called it a "scientific milestone" that puts "vital biodiversity data into the hands of researchers, policymakers and conservationists everywhere" Mirage News.
AI Reveals a Century of Shifting Flower Clocks
Researchers fed eight million digitized specimens into AI systems to track phenology — the timing of life events like flowering. The result: flowers are opening an average of 2.5 days earlier or later per decade. Over a century, that adds up to a significant drift ITV News.
The shift is not uniform. In the tropics, where plants lack strong seasonal cues, some species have moved their flowering by as much as 80 days since the 1950s. That kind of change risks a "temporal mismatch" — bees and birds show up when there is nothing to eat Mongabay.
A Vast Knowledge Gap Leaves Species Unprotected
The report makes clear that the threats to plants and fungi are being severely underestimated. Fewer than one in five plant species has ever been formally assessed for extinction risk. For fungi, it is even worse: only 0.6% of known species have been evaluated ITV News.
New species are still being found at a rapid pace — around 12,000 were described in 2024 and 2025 alone, including a parasitic fungus in Brazil that consumes trapdoor spiders. But Kew's Dr. Martin Cheek warns that many new species are "threatened with extinction from day one" The National News.
Digital Access Opens Doors But Debate Rages Over Physical Collections
Professor Alexandre Antonelli, Kew's Executive Director of Science, says digitization is breaking down old barriers. "Scientists, practitioners, and anyone with a keen interest in biodiversity are now being equipped with unprecedented data and tools," he said, adding they can now work "faster, better and more impactful than ever before" Mirage News.
Not everyone is celebrating. Plans to move Kew's physical herbarium from its gardens to a science park near Reading have drawn fierce opposition. A petition gathered over 19,000 signatures. Critics argue that physical proximity between living and dried collections is essential for real taxonomic work, and that digitization is being used to justify a cost-cutting move Botany One.
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