The Rose of Jericho, also known as the Anastatica or White Mustard Flower, is a curious plant.
This small gray herb is what’s known as a “resurrection plant,” which is a plant that can survive extreme dehydration over months or years.
Found throughout the Middle East and the Sahara Desert, the Rose of Jericho dries up into a curious grey ball after the rainy season and “hibernates.”
The closed fruit inside protects the seeds, which can remain dormant for years at a time. When wetted again in the next rainy season, the little ball uncurls as the plant “wakes up.”
This process usually takes a few hours, but it absolutely remarkable to behold using time-lapse photography.
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