As the race to adapt to climate change quickens, a South African scientist is leading global research into developing crops that mimic the extraordinary survival skills of “resurrection plants.”
Jill Farrant, a professor of molecular and cell biology at the University of Cape Town, hopes that unlocking the genetic codes of drought-tolerant plants could help farmers toiling in increasingly hot and dry conditions.
With more than 130 known varieties in the world, resurrection plants are a unique group of flora that can survive extreme water shortages for years.
During a drought, the plant acts like a seed, becoming so dry it appears dead.
But when the skies finally open and the rain pours down, the shriveled plant bursts “back to life”, turning green and robust in just a few hours.
Click here to read more.
Latest from Greenhouse Management
- The Growth Industry Episode 10: State of the Horticulture Industry
- Millennium Pacific Greenhouses launches California Grown Cucumber Program
- Scientists develop vitamin A-enriched tomato to fight global deficiency
- Tennessee Green Industry Field Day scheduled for June 11
- UTIA and UT Knoxville research teams will develop automated compost monitoring system
- Ken and Deena Altman receive American Floral Endowment Ambassador Award
- [SNEAK PEEK] Leading Women of Horticulture: The women of Fairview Greenhouses & Garden Center
- [SNEAK PEEK] Leading Women of Horticulture: The inventive women of TPIE ’26
