the wonder plant

This is a Resurrection Plant, also called the Miracle Fern. I'm not sure of the exact scientific name, but after looking stuff up online I think it is Selaginella lepidophylla. My dad bought it for me in a gift shop when we were in Arizona.

Living in the desert but unable to store water in its tissues, the plant dries up into a ball and then unfolds and grows again when moisture is present. So I tried it. I put the dry plant (you can see the little fronds tucked up)

into a shallow dish of water.

Here it is after half an hour:

two hours:

six hours:

seven and a half hours:

Concerned that the plant tissues might get rot from sitting in moisture all day I put it over a bulb vase.

The next day transferred it to a shallow dish of pebbles

and set it outside in the sun.

When the water level dropped in the dish it immediately started to curl up again.

It's so interesting!