mental_floss magazine
SUBSCRIBE >
GIFT SUBSCRIPTIONS >
DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTIONS >
subscriber services >
After picking up a new African Violet at the grocery store, I noticed a little tag on the plant — the tag had a picture of the Space Shuttle, surrounded by flowers. Eh? A quick trip to Google, and I learned all about the Optimara EverFloris “Space Violet” program. From the site:
…the development of EverFloris Violets began in 1984, when Optimara launched 25,000 Optimara seeds into space aboard one of NASA’s space shuttles. The seeds remained in space, orbiting the Earth, for nearly six years. (The Long Duration Exposure Facility, on which the seeds orbited, is shown at right. [Blogger's note: see below for an LDEF link]) The program was conceived to test the effect of long-term exposure to cosmic radiation and lack of gravity. When the seeds were retrieved in 1990, many mutations soon became apparent. One such mutation resulted in a new characteristic which Optimara has dubbed ‘multiflorescence.’ This characteristic gives Optimara Violets an extraordinary abundance of flowers which never stop blooming. Compared with PMA standards, which define a finished African Violet as having five to seven open blooms, a multiflorescent Optimara variety will have at least 20 open blooms.
Um…wow? (Before we move on: more on the Long Duration Exposure Facility.) After consulting my friendly neighborhood geneticist, I was informed that mutations induced by extraterrestrial radiation are no different from mutations created in the lab. But, dude, SPACE.
More stories of seeds in space after the jump.
The Shenzhou VI space mission (China’s second manned space expedition) carried sweet potato seeds to orbit in October 2006. The experiment resulted in a variety called the “Purple Orchid III” potato. Yum, space potato!
On the Apollo 14 mission, crewmember Stuart Roosa carried canisters containing 400-500 tree seeds of various types. The canisters got pretty close to the moon, staying with Roosa as he piloted the command module above the lunar surface. Upon returning to earth, the canisters burst open during the decontamination process, the seeds mixed, and were presumed no longer viable. However, most of the seeds germinated and many were planted around the world. NASA maintains a page listing the resulting “Moon Trees.”
Further reading: a nice description of seeds in space from the Park Seed Company.
Comments (9)
Comment
I am sure that your neighborhood geneticist it correct, but direct exposure to unfiltered cosmic rays does have a way of accelerating the mutations.
I am also a little surprised at the reckless abandon with which these seeds are handled. When genetically modified plants are created, they are grown in mine shafts so that they cannot spread or pollinate with other plants. These space seeds are also genetically modified but they are just sent out to school children for experiments (in the Park Seed article)?
The only substantial difference I see is that in one case the mutations are random, but the other has controlled changes.
posted by n2y2 on 4-24-2007 at 10:40 am
Neat-O!
posted by Cotton on 4-24-2007 at 1:35 pm
Very spiffy!
But I have to say that like n2y2, I have some reservations about the handling of the space seeds. It just seems careless to plant them without understanding the mutations fully.
posted by natlynn on 4-24-2007 at 3:11 pm
Thanks a lot for posting this. I’m a student at UF and I had no clue that we had one of the space trees on our campus.
posted by Blephen on 4-24-2007 at 6:57 pm
My class in grade school planted some of the space tomatoes. I don’t remember what happened to them as it was at the end of the year and some students took them home to grow, but I remember everyone being cautioned that the fruit would be poisonous. I guess my slacker school wasn’t one of the thousands that sent results to NASA. Interesting to find out that wasn’t a part of grade school I made up.
posted by Elizabeth on 4-25-2007 at 11:42 am
I wish they would do bluebonnets. I hate waiting all year for those.
posted by p. on 4-25-2007 at 12:21 pm
Caveman: Would you mind not posting if you don’t have anything useful to add?
posted by Nerdfury on 4-25-2007 at 8:58 pm
When I was in elementary school, we grew the space tomatoes and we all ate them and to the best of my knowledge nothing bad happened to any of us.
posted by Melissa on 4-28-2007 at 3:27 pm
Space tomatoes would be poisonous? Awww… That’s too bad they told you that, and rediculous — tomato stems and leaves are, but not the fruit. I wonder how many kinds that left with a “bad taste in their mouths” about tomatoes? We too did the Park space tomatoes in elementary school and we all ate the tomatoes for weeks. True I wasn’t sure I wanted to see another tomato for a while…
posted by Tinkie Winkie on 5-18-2007 at 4:32 pm