VITAMINS help plants survive drought, a study of an unusual African shrub has revealed.
Like other 鈥渞esurrection plants鈥�, Myrothamnus flabellifolia is revived by water after months or even years of drought. It appears to owe its survival to antioxidants such as vitamins C and E. These mop up free radicals, which otherwise destroy tissue as plants dry out.
Most plants use up their antioxidants within hours of the soil drying out, and die within a fortnight. But the resurrection plant somehow hangs onto or resynthesises antioxidants for months on end, say researchers at the University of Graz in Austria. Their findings could help scientists looking for ways to breed drought-resistant crops, they say in The Plant Journal (vol 31, p13).
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