resurrection plant

American  

noun

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

2. rose of Jericho.

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resurrection plant British  

noun

1. 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

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Etymology

Origin of resurrection plant

An Americanism dating back to 1865–70

Example Sentences

We found great numbers of Opuntia Missouriensis, called by the Mexicans nopal; small mesquite shrubs, too, are seen everywhere, while the resurrection plant covers great areas, like the heather on the Scotch hills.

From Unknown Mexico, Volume 1 (of 2) A Record of Five Years' Exploration Among the Tribes of the Western Sierra Madre; In the Tierra Caliente of Tepic and Jalisco; and Among the Tarascos of Michoacan by Lumholtz, Carl