Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 35, Number 102, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 August 1903 — RESURRECTION PLANTS. [ARTICLE]

RESURRECTION PLANTS.

Rose of Jericho One of ths Moat Famous of the Kind. What is generally known as the rose of Jericho is, perhaps, one of the most familiar of the curiosities of plant life known as resurrection plants, though other varieties have recently been added to the list of these oddities, says the Philadelphia Ledger. The rose of Jericho Is said to be imported from the valley of the River Jordan, and Is the resurrection plant mentioned in the Bible. The plant when received from its najlye home is simply a bunch of leafless and seemingly lifeless sticks or branches clustered together tightly. When placed In a glass of water, however, the branches expand, seed buds unfold, and soon the green foliage starts out and the plant really grows. The Mexican resurrection plant Is the fluffy feralike variety often noticed in saucers of water in the florist’s window. This delights the children, ns the plant Is so quickly resurrected from a dry, hardball to a green living plant. When It Is dormant It Is a shrunken round ball of tightly folded leaflets, dry and dead. It Is dropped In a bowl of tepid water, and soon one frondllke tip curls slowly outward, then another and another, and in a short time there Is floating In the dish a beautiful metallic green plant, a groat loose expanded rosette of fine feralike leaves, odd and beautiful. This experiment can be repeated many times, the plant curling together tightly when dry nnd expanding into new life when soaked In water, 'the asterlscus pygmaerus Is the only resurrection plant tha£ develops blossoms. In reality it Is the blossom that is resurrected frotn a dry, hard shell-llko substance to a full-blown flower.