From growing smaller leaves to shape-shifting its insides, a desert flowering plant goes all in to flourish in the harshest of conditions.
Summer temperatures in Death Valley National Park frequently exceed 50° Celsius (122° Fahrenheit). During that peak heat, most desert plants hope simply to cling to life. Not the Arizona honeysweet (Tidestromia oblongifolia). It thrives by making cellular and genetic tweaks, notably changing the shape of a microscopic structure that converts light and carbon dioxide into energy, researchers report in the Nov. 7 Current Biology.
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