resurrection plant

Plant that dries up as though dead, yet revives when wet conditions return. The club moss Selaginella lepidophylla, native to the southern USA and Central America, curls up tight when dry, but unrolls and resumes growth when placed in water. The rose of Jericho Anastatica hierochuntica in the Cruciferae family, is native to desert regions of North Africa and Southwest Asia. The plant curls stems and seed pods inwards in the dry season, forming a ball that is blown out of the soil and rolled by the wind, shedding its seeds, which germinate rapidly in moist conditions, when it reaches a damp spot or when the rains return. When moistened the plant develops into a fernlike plant up to 30 cm/12 in across.