Speaker 1: Hey there, I'm Ngati, the co host of Part Time Genius,
Speaker 1: one of the founders of Mental Flaws, and this is
Speaker 1: Humans Growing Stuff, a collaboration from My Heart Radio and
Speaker 1: your friends at Miracle Grow. Our goal is to make
Speaker 1: this the most human show about plants you'll ever listen to,
Speaker 1: and along the way, we'll share inspiring stories, tips and
Speaker 1: tricks to nurture your plant addiction, and just enough science
Speaker 1: to make you sound like an expert. We are on
Speaker 1: summer break right now, but because Molly and I cannot
Speaker 1: stop our plant addiction, we're going to bring you some
Speaker 1: mini episodes to brighten up your feed and grow your
Speaker 1: plant curiosity. Throughout the summer. We're dropping incredible stories from growers,
Speaker 1: advice from experts, and we'll have some fun conversations around
Speaker 1: fascinating plant facts. In this bonus episode, we're talking about
Speaker 1: one of our favorite plants, known by its common name
Speaker 1: Polly Podium Polypodiodes, or as everyone else calls it, the
Speaker 1: Resurrection Firm. Listeners, if you haven't figured it out by now,
Speaker 1: I love learning new things, and one of the things
Speaker 1: I am kind of obsessed with is things that seem
Speaker 1: totally dead but aren't so In biology, there's a whole
Speaker 1: category called the Lazarus taxon, and it's filled with plants
Speaker 1: and animals that everyone decided had gone extinct until some
Speaker 1: scientists spots them in the wild and they realize it's
Speaker 1: actually still existing in the world. And then there's something
Speaker 1: called the Elvis taxon, where scientists think they've spotted an
Speaker 1: extinct plant again, but this time it is just look alike.
Speaker 1: So this is kind of like if you see a
Speaker 1: guy who looks like Elvis at the mall and you
Speaker 1: start pointing and yelling to everyone around you that Elvis
Speaker 1: is still alive, but it's really just an Elvis impersonator.
Speaker 1: But my favorite favorite of these almost morbid things are
Speaker 1: plants and animals that seem to be dead but then reawaken.
Speaker 1: So Charles Darwin was once astonished by a beetle that
Speaker 1: played possum for twenty three full minutes. There are frogs
Speaker 1: like the zombie wood frog that literally stop its heart
Speaker 1: and freeze to survive the icy Canadian winters and then
Speaker 1: suddenly wake up when the weather's changes and they just
Speaker 1: hop off. But the thing I'm currently most obsessed with
Speaker 1: is this Resurrection firm. It is a gorgeous, gorgeous firm
Speaker 1: that preserves itself during times of drought by curling up
Speaker 1: those fronds to the point where it appears completely dead.
Speaker 1: And you guessed it. Despite its gray and withery appearance,
Speaker 1: it's not actually dead. So here are six facts I
Speaker 1: just learned about the resurrection from that I had to
Speaker 1: share with you. One, according to the National Wildlife Federation,
Speaker 1: this plant can lose an astonishing nine of its water content.
Speaker 1: But what's stunning is that the moment it's watered again,
Speaker 1: it resurrects itself and turns green and leafy once more.
Speaker 1: By contrast, most plants cells collapse and die when they've
Speaker 1: lost just ten of their water, all of which means
Speaker 1: the resurrection fern is basically the perfect house plant if
Speaker 1: you're terrible with plants. Two, it's got some fun nicknames.
Speaker 1: In addition to being called the resurrection fern, it's also
Speaker 1: sometimes referred to as the miracle fern and the little
Speaker 1: gray polypod. Three. You can find these ferns in some
Speaker 1: surprising places here in the u s. They're mostly found
Speaker 1: climbing old oak trees in the American South, kind of
Speaker 1: in the low country, and although they anchor their slender
Speaker 1: stems on the bark. They are not parasites. The ferns
Speaker 1: climbed the trees to escape the competition for resources from
Speaker 1: other groundcover, but once they're up above they feed off
Speaker 1: moisture in the air and run off water that drips
Speaker 1: off leaves and branches. For there is a super cute
Speaker 1: story of how the plants traveled to outer space. In
Speaker 1: South Carolina middle school got fascinated with the plant, and
Speaker 1: the students suggested to NASA that it might be worth
Speaker 1: taking the plants to space to see if they could
Speaker 1: perform their trick in zero gravity. So astronauts did Resurrection
Speaker 1: ferns boarded the space Shuttle Discovery, and just as you
Speaker 1: might expect, they sprung back to life in space. Two. Five.
Speaker 1: The plant actually has medicinal qualities too. Native Americans used
Speaker 1: to brew the root into a t to cure sore throats,
Speaker 1: and they put the root into poultices to treat hives
Speaker 1: and inflammation as well. Six. If you're wondering how long
Speaker 1: a miracle fern can play dead, scientists estimate that the
Speaker 1: planet can play possum for up to a hundred years,
Speaker 1: a hundred years before they can drink a little water
Speaker 1: and suddenly they're showing off those luxuriant greens again. That's
Speaker 1: it for today's bonus episode, but check back here again
Speaker 1: soon for more bonus episodes this summer. And don't forget
Speaker 1: no matter what season it is or where you're at
Speaker 1: in your gardening journey, there's some incredible resources waiting for
Speaker 1: you on the Miracle Grow website. Humans Growing Stuff is
Speaker 1: a collaboration from My Heart Radio and your friends at
Speaker 1: Miracle Grow. Our show was written and produced by Molly
Speaker 1: Sosha and me Mongy Shit Together. This episode was edited
Speaker 1: and engineered by our pal Matt still O