
We are lucky in Florida to have a very active native plant society (Florida Native Plant Society website), which publishes a great quarterly membership magazine, the Palmetto. The magazine includes popular science pieces on a number of interesting and plant-related topics, usually related to plants of Florida. Sessa lab grad student Chris Krieg and a recent UF Biology B.S. graduate, Sandy Saunders ’16, who has been working with him, have an article in the most recent Palmetto on Ferns in Space! Their piece describes experiments NASA is carrying out on specimens of Pleopeltis polypodioides, a common Florida species known as the “resurrection fern”, to study desiccation and rehydration in zero-gravity environments. Check out their article below to learn more!