plant-a-day: anarchobotanist: plant-a-day: The Rose of...

plant-a-day:

anarchobotanist:

plant-a-day:

The Rose of Jericho

Anastatica hierochuntica

This resurrection plant is found across the Middle East and Northern Africa in arid regions.

After the rainy season ends, the plant goes into a state of dormancy, protecting itself and its seeds in a tightly-curled ball. This ball can be uprooted and tumble, which is perhaps an adaptation to avoid being buried in sand dunes as the desert landscape changes.

The plant can remain “dead” (in a state of cryptobiosis: anhydrobiosis, which is extreme dessication) for up to 50 years, but once it comes into contact with water, it rapidly opens, allowing capsular fruit to disperse the seeds. The seeds can then germinate in a matter of hours.

You can buy a resurrection plant online, and bring it back to life at home:

Canada / USA / UK & Europe / Worldwide

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- biodiverseed

This is not Anastatica hierochuntica, its Selaginella lepidophylla, The False Rose of Jericho. It doesn’t have seed, its a Lycophyte, not an angiosperm.

Thank you for the correction! I mistook it for the actual Rose of Jericho.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selaginella_lepidophylla