Key takeaway: The Arizona honeysweet (Tidestromia oblongifolia) tolerates Death Valley conditions and offers clues for heat‑resilient crops. In laboratory chambers mimicking Death Valley summers, the shrub tripled its mass in 10 days while other species stalled. Within two weeks its photosynthetic optimum rose to about 113°F (≈45°C), driven by cellular adjustments that reduce heat damage and improve CO2 use. Findings, published in Current Biology, could guide development of crops better adapted to extreme heat.
Death Valley Shrub Offers a Blueprint for Heat‑Resilient Crops
Key takeaway: The Arizona honeysweet (Tidestromia oblongifolia) tolerates Death Valley conditions and offers clues for heat‑resilient crops. In laboratory chambers mimicking Death Valley summers, the shrub tripled its mass in 10 days while other species stalled. Within two weeks its photosynthetic optimum rose to about 113°F (≈45°C), driven by cellular adjustments that reduce heat damage and improve CO2 use. Findings, published in Current Biology, could guide development of crops better adapted to extreme heat.
02:05, 08.11.2025Science
Death Valley shrub shows how plants can survive intense heat
In the searing heat of Death Valley, a small shrub known as the Arizona honeysweet can survive — and even thrive — at temperatures above 120°F (≈50°C). A new study reveals how Tidestromia oblongifolia adjusts at the cellular level to protect against heat, increase carbon uptake and boost energy production. Those mechanisms could inform efforts to breed or engineer crops that tolerate extreme heat.
Researchers recreated Death Valley summer conditions in laboratory growth chambers and exposed seeds of T. oblongifolia alongside other desert species to intense heat and sunlight. While the other plants stalled, T. oblongifolia accelerated growth, roughly tripling its mass in just 10 days.
“When we first brought these seeds back to the lab, we were fighting just to get them to grow,” said Karine Prado of Michigan State University. “But once we managed to mimic Death Valley conditions in our growth chambers, they took off.”
Detailed measurements showed that within two weeks the shrub's optimum temperature for photosynthesis rose to about 113°F (≈45°C). The plant accomplishes this through cellular adjustments that both limit heat damage (for example, protecting protein and membrane function) and increase the efficiency of CO2 uptake and energy-generating processes.
Researchers describe T. oblongifolia as among the most heat-tolerant plants documented. The team published their findings in Current Biology, and they say understanding and potentially transferring or mimicking these mechanisms could help agriculture adapt to more frequent and intense heat driven by global warming.
Seung Yon Rhee of Michigan State University added, “Desert plants have spent millions of years solving the challenges we’re only beginning to face. If we can learn how to replicate those mechanisms in crops, it could transform agriculture in a hotter world.”