Planting and Care Instructions:

The Story of the Dinosaur Plant

Hello, we are the wild and crazy dinosaur plant. My siblings and I are one of the longest-living plants in the world! Our ancestors looked down to see the first dinosaurs emerge. At that time, we grew to over 120 feet, much taller than even the Tyrannosaurus Rex! The dinosaurs and our relatives were great friends, although they did eat us occasionally. So we learned to changed color – all we needed was a little dye! When the ice age came, we had to mutate and get really small. We learned how to blow onto dry land and sleep, waiting for water. Usually we drifted around until we stumbled upon a puddle. Then we drank greedily, and went back to sleep until we found our next "fountain!" Our secret is that we are very easy to care for. We don’t even need to bury our roots! All we need is a little water and some occasional sleep. In fact, we can sleep for up to fifty years and will still rise when you place us in water! With the Brachiosaurus gone, our entire family will be perfectly safe in your home!

Planting Your Dinosaur Plants for the First Time

· Rinse plants, display tray, and rocks thoroughly;

· Put a few lava rocks in the bottom of each planting bowl;

· Place moist plants in bowls and fill with water; the plants will start to open immediately!

· Rinse plants and tray thoroughly once per day; replace in tray with water; repeat for 3

days;

· You can continue to add water to your Dinosaur Plants or stop watering and let them go to sleep.

· You can also grow a Dinosaur Plant with the included planting mixture: just fill the bowl

with dry planting mixture; bury shallow roots so that plant stands upright; water.

You Can Make Your Dinosaur Plants Change Color!

· Wake up your plants as described above; wait one full week;

· Add one tablet of the included coloring to a full bowl of water; do not water again.

· Let the plants dry out;

· Your Dinosaur Plants will really change color when they go to sleep – you can enjoy their new color for as long as you like until you choose to wake them up.

· When you wake your Dinosaur Plants up, rinse in fresh water and place in a bowl of clean

water;

· Change water daily or more until all the coloring has drained out of the plant;

· Do not change the plants’ color more than once per month as it is very tiring for them.

Hints for Growing Your Dinosaur Plant

· Feel free to cut off any dead foliage (hard, brittle leaves that do not soften and turn green); it

will grow back!

· Don’t be afraid of any mold you see. You can rinse it off, or let the plant go to sleep.

· Remember, your Dinosaur Plant is a plant and appreciates light, but not direct sun. Windowsills are fine,

but do not leave outside in direct sun for long periods of time.

· Your Dinosaur Plants can sleep up to 50 years between waterings, so be sure to rinse your plants and

change their water when you wake them up!

· Your dinosaur plants may each have slightly different foliage – like their ancestors. This is normal and

to be expected.

Your Dinosaur Plants:

are native to Mexico and Texas, chiefly around Big Bend National Park, in desert and semi-desert regions.
curl up into a tight ball when dry so that the wind can easily roll them to a new location, hopefully closer to moisture.
are sold in Mexican markets for use as a diuretic.
can survive in a dry habitat where water is available only occasionally.
need some dry periods which keep me small.

are used as Christmas decorations.

turn red-brown or gray-green with age and produce dense tufts.

grow to be about 4 inches.
are made into absorptive powder in the pharmaceutical industry.

have hygroscopic qualities which cause me to curl up when dry and unfold when moist.
are an ideal symbol for the coming of life.
retain 3% of my water when I’m dehydrated.
are used in fireworks.
have amazing roots. Although shallow, their root system is very extensive and their leaves and stems can uptake water directly.
are very evolved. Although they resemble mosses, they are considered to be more evolutionary advanced because I am vascular. That means they have specialized fluid-conducting tissues, which help them to quickly hydrate themselves.
come from a family of amazing plants. My ancestors were a dominant group during the Carboniferous period when they grew to be the size of trees and contributed to the coal deposits, which humans use today for fuel.
are being researched so that their genes can be transferred into crop plants such as rice, wheat, and maize to make them more resistant to drought.

Check out www.dunecraft.com for more exciting products as well as additional information on your Dinosaur Plant Trio.