A plant curls into a ballSourced
Dry weather changes this plant’s shape
Selaginella lepidophylla grows in the Chihuahuan Desert of the United States and Mexico. As it dries, its stems curl inward into a ball. A living plant can open again when moisture returns. Its resurrection-plant nickname does not mean a dead plant comes back to life.
The closed ball is a form the plant takes while enduring dryness.
Summary / translation: Unbubly · CC BY-SA 4.0
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Selaginella lepidophylla · Wikimedia contributors
Adapted, summarized and translated from the source. Adapted text is also available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Reviewed: 2026-10-10