What an amazing plant is the resurrection plant. In terms of adapting it has a heap to offer us.It's survived millions of years and it is able to withstand very long periods indeed without water and then spring back to life when it finds moisture again .What a thing to be able to do !
The resurrection plant is the name given to two different species of plant, the first is Selaginella lepidophylla and the second is Anastatica hierochuntica. The first is native to the Chihuahuan Desert which runs across the U.S.-Mexico border. The second is found in many places including the Middle East and the Sahara Desert.
The key feature of these plants is their ability to survive without water. They do so by curling up into a ball and "dying". These plants then revive themselves after coming into contact with more water. Selaginella which grows in desert and mountainous areas, may be cracked and dried out, but will turn green again and revive after rain. Where there is no moisture, as for example in dry soil or deserts the plant folds up its stems into a tight ball. This conserves any internal moisture. The plant’s metabolic functions are reduced to a bare minimum and it looks like it is dead. It can actually stay this way for years. When it is like this the wind can easily transport it. With rain the resurrection plant takes in water and grows rapidly.
They seem to be able to do this because they contain trehalose. Trehalose is a disaccharide discovered in 1832. It allows plants and invertebrate animals to survive long periods without water because it has very high water retention capability. It is also an antioxidant and is used in food and cosmetics. It is also found in some insects such as grasshoppers, locusts, butterflies and bees, in which the blood-sugar is trehalose. The moisture retaining capacity of trehalose means that it is also used as a moisturizer in many basic toiletries. It is also used to protect organs for transplants. It can also be used to protect vaccines during distribution.
The resurrection plant is a primitive plant and it comes somewhere between mosses and ferns in plant evolution. It is what is known as a lycopod. They first appeared 400 million years ago as small plants. Between 345 and 280 million years ago they had a period of dominance when they grew as giant trees over thirty metres tall with trunks that were as much as two metres across. They contributed to the coal deposits we use today. These giant lycopods became extinct but the smaller relatives still exist today.
It is really an amazing plant.
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