Episode Transcript
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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
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