They are the botanical equivalents of aggressive young executives determined to claw their way to the top.
Their presence this spring on Park Avenue indicates the growing importance of gardening with heirloom and antique plants - the botanical equivalent of carrying square one with you.
The studies were carried out by two groups of plant developmental biologists, both working with Arabidopsis, a plant whose genetics are so well known that it is the botanical equivalent of the fruit fly.
By now we had crossed through half a dozen vegetation zones - the botanical equivalent of a journey from Canada to New Mexico.
Was there a botanical equivalent of surgical glue, which could hold it all together again and allow it to heal?
The wisteria, for example, is the botanical equivalent of those Wall Street people who want to have everything wrapped in their crushing embrace.
The botanical equivalent of zoology's term "valid name" is correct name.
He had to translate early botanical, English, Scots and Gaelic names into their modern botanical equivalents, although it was not always possible to be precise.
Here was a plant that had survived for millenniums on the botanical equivalent of bread and water.
The gene-for-gene relationship is an approximate botanical equivalent of antigens and antibodies in mammals.