0:04

Hey there, I'm Ngati, the co host

0:07

of Part Time Genius, one of the founders of Mental

0:09

Flaws, and this is Humans Growing

0:11

Stuff, a collaboration from My Heart

0:13

Radio and your friends at Miracle Grow. Our

0:16

goal is to make this the most human

0:18

show about plants you'll ever

0:21

listen to, and along the way, we'll share inspiring

0:23

stories, tips and tricks to nurture

0:25

your plant addiction, and just enough science

0:27

to make you sound like an expert. We

0:30

are on summer break right now, but because

0:32

Molly and I cannot stop our plant

0:34

addiction, we're going to bring you some mini

0:36

episodes to brighten up your feed and

0:39

grow your plant curiosity. Throughout

0:41

the summer. We're dropping incredible stories

0:44

from growers, advice from experts,

0:46

and we'll have some fun conversations around

0:48

fascinating plant facts. In

0:50

this bonus episode, we're talking about one of our

0:52

favorite plants, known by its common

0:55

name Polly Podium Polypodiodes,

0:58

or as everyone else calls it, the

1:01

Resurrection Firm.

1:09

Listeners, if you haven't figured it out by

1:12

now, I love learning

1:14

new things, and one of the things I

1:16

am kind of obsessed with is things

1:18

that seem totally dead but

1:21

aren't so In biology, there's

1:23

a whole category called the Lazarus

1:25

taxon, and it's filled with plants

1:27

and animals that everyone decided had gone

1:30

extinct until some scientists

1:32

spots them in the wild and they realize

1:34

it's actually still existing in the world.

1:37

And then there's something called the Elvis taxon,

1:40

where scientists think they've spotted an

1:42

extinct plant again, but this

1:44

time it is just look alike. So this

1:47

is kind of like if you see a guy who looks like Elvis

1:49

at the mall and you start pointing and yelling to everyone

1:51

around you that Elvis is still alive,

1:53

but it's really just an

1:55

Elvis impersonator. But

1:58

my favorite favorite of these almost

2:00

morbid things are plants and animals

2:02

that seem to be dead but then reawaken.

2:06

So Charles Darwin was once astonished

2:08

by a beetle that played possum for twenty

2:10

three full minutes. There are frogs

2:13

like the zombie wood frog that literally stop

2:15

its heart and freeze to survive

2:17

the icy Canadian winters and then suddenly

2:20

wake up when the weather's changes and they

2:22

just hop off. But the

2:24

thing I'm currently most obsessed

2:27

with is this Resurrection firm.

2:29

It is a gorgeous, gorgeous firm

2:31

that preserves itself during times of drought

2:34

by curling up those fronds to

2:36

the point where it appears completely

2:38

dead. And you

2:40

guessed it. Despite its gray

2:43

and withery appearance, it's

2:45

not actually dead. So

2:50

here are six facts I just learned

2:53

about the resurrection from that I had

2:55

to share with you. One,

3:01

according to the National Wildlife Federation,

3:03

this plant can lose an astonishing nine

3:07

of its water content.

3:10

But what's stunning is that the moment it's

3:12

watered again, it resurrects itself

3:14

and turns green and leafy once

3:16

more. By contrast, most

3:18

plants cells collapse and die

3:21

when they've lost just ten of

3:23

their water, all of which means

3:25

the resurrection fern is basically

3:27

the perfect house plant if you're terrible

3:30

with plants. Two,

3:35

it's got some fun nicknames. In

3:37

addition to being called the resurrection fern,

3:39

it's also sometimes referred to as the miracle

3:42

fern and the little gray polypod.

3:49

Three. You can find these ferns in some

3:51

surprising places here in the u s.

3:53

They're mostly found climbing old oak

3:55

trees in the American South, kind of in

3:57

the low country, and although they anchor

3:59

their slender stems on the bark. They

4:02

are not parasites. The ferns

4:04

climbed the trees to escape the competition for

4:06

resources from other groundcover, but

4:08

once they're up above they feed

4:10

off moisture in the air and run off water

4:13

that drips off leaves and branches. For

4:18

there is a super cute story of how the plants

4:21

traveled to outer space. In

4:23

South Carolina middle school got fascinated

4:25

with the plant, and the students suggested

4:28

to NASA that it might be worth taking

4:30

the plants to space to see if they could perform

4:32

their trick in zero gravity. So

4:34

astronauts did Resurrection

4:37

ferns boarded the space Shuttle Discovery,

4:39

and just as you might expect, they

4:41

sprung back to life in space. Two. Five.

4:48

The plant actually has medicinal qualities

4:50

too. Native Americans used to brew

4:52

the root into a t to cure sore throats,

4:54

and they put the root into poultices to treat

4:57

hives and inflammation as well. Six.

5:02

If you're wondering how long a miracle fern can

5:04

play dead, scientists estimate that the planet

5:06

can play possum for up to a hundred

5:08

years, a hundred years before

5:11

they can drink a little water and

5:13

suddenly they're showing off those luxuriant

5:15

greens again. That's

5:23

it for today's bonus episode, but check back here

5:25

again soon for more bonus episodes this

5:27

summer. And don't forget no matter what

5:29

season it is or where you're at in your gardening

5:32

journey, there's some incredible resources

5:34

waiting for you on the Miracle Grow website.

5:37

Humans Growing Stuff is a collaboration from My Heart

5:39

Radio and your friends at Miracle Grow. Our

5:42

show was written and produced by Molly Sosha

5:44

and me Mongy Shit Together. This

5:46

episode was edited and engineered

5:49

by our pal Matt still O