Every year, Brian Williams Science helps you find the perfect gift for the science enthusiast in your life. Today, we present the Desktop Dinosaur Plant!
Every year, the Brian Williams Science publishes a set of articles aimed at helping you find the perfect gift for the science enthusiast in your life. We call it Giving the Gift of Wonder. This year, we’ve got a very special list of great gifts ideas meant to inspire curiosity and imagination. Some are for children. Others are for adults. Many are for kids of all ages! Chances are that you’ll be able to check a few names off your list with some of the ideas you find here. And as usual, we hope that you will take time this holiday season to Do Some Science!
Today’s Gift Idea: Desktop Dinosaur Plant
This amazing, one-of-a-kind plant has lived on Earth for over 290 million years. It was alive when the first dinosaurs emerged. It is one of the longest-living plants in the world, and a perfect gift for the special someone who can’t grow anything! This small plant has the fantastic ability to “come back to life” over and over again for hundreds of years. It’s almost as if you can’t kill it!
The Dinosaur Plant is very easy to care for. All it needs is a little water and some occasional sleep. Simply place the plant in its bowl with New Mexico lava rock (included), pour some water on the plant and it will spring to life within one day! If you let the Dinosaur Plant dry out, it will shrink back to its sleeping state. It can sleep for up to fifty years and will still rise when you place it in water!
Here are some more interesting facts about the Dinosaur Plant:
- During the Carboniferous period these plants used to grow over 120 feet tall (bigger than a T-rex)
- When dry, it curls up into a tight ball so that the wind can easily roll it to a new location or cubicle, hopefully closer to moisture.
- Retains 3% of its water when it is dehydrated.
- Grows to be about 4″
- Enjoys life so much it survived the Ice Age
