The real Rose of Jericho - REAL ROSE OF JERICHO

What plant can be resurrected when the rain comes? The plant known as the “real Jericho Rose” or by its additional name resurrection plant is sacred to Christians, mainly because of the dry plant’s ability to resurrect when the rain comes, but also in the hands of its branches, which gave it the name “Mary’s hands -the mother of Jesus. When the plant dies, its branches dry and become very stiff, like tree branches. They shrink like a clenched fist and keep the seeds inside them.

He is one of the only plants in the world to become so stiff in their deaths. The wonder happens when the dead plant gets wet. Then his branches are stripped and released and the seeds imprisoned in them, allowing him in his death to reproduce. The appearance of the changing plant in alluvial water. The imagination of Christian believers. They saw him as a reference to Jesus legendary return to life, after his crucifixion to death.

The ability of the real Rose of Jericho to resurrect with the rainfall, or just when it is watered, is fascinating. But equally interesting are the survival mechanisms that allow him to live in extreme dry conditions for a long time. Also interesting is his distribution mechanism, in which he often turns into a dry ball, the so-called “wheel plant”, which rolls with the wind to the mouth and to the name. This is how it looks down to the rain, where it will open and spread its seeds.

By the way, it’s not really that the plant comes back to life. This is the reaction of the dead plant fibers to the absorption of water. These fibers, which shrink as he dies and dry, stretch back as he gets wet and reopens. That’s what gave him the aura, of the plant with the “afterlife.”

The real Rose of Jericho – Anastatica hierochuntica L.