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resurrection plant

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noun
a desert plant, Selaginella lepidophylla, occurring from Texas to South America, having stems that curl inward when dry.
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Origin of resurrection plant

An Americanism dating back to 1865–70
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use resurrection plant in a sentence

  • But it resulted in Duncan staring at me in a resurrection-plant sort of way, and in Peter rather dolorously taking his departure.

    The Prairie Child|Arthur Stringer

British Dictionary definitions for resurrection plant

resurrection plant

noun
any of several unrelated desert plants that form a tight ball when dry and unfold and bloom when moistened. The best-known examples are the crucifer Anastatica hierochuntica (also called rose of Jericho), club mosses of the genus Selaginella, and the composite Asteriscus pygmoeus
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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