Hey there, Side Dourables. When you think of the word extreme, what do you think of?

Maybe rock climbing, skydiving, nacho cheese Doritos?

You probably don't think of plants, do you?

Well, think again, because it turns out botany can get pretty extreme.

The New York Botanical Gardens, Anna Maria Bedadoia, spends much of her time tracking down aquatic

plants that live in some of the world's harshest conditions.

Think steep cliffs, raging river rapids, and tumbling waterfalls.

So while side door is on break this summer, we thought we'd share this episode from the

podcast, Plant People, that dives into extreme botany.

It's part of our summer playlist featuring some of our favorite podcasts.

Side Door will be back in just a few weeks.

Until then, we hope you enjoy Plant People.

On a cold winter day in New York City, I watched a video taken by one of our researchers from a recent fieldwork trip to Panama.

I am Anna Mario Edoja. I'm an assistant curator at the Center for Biodiversity and Evolution at the New York Botanical Garden.

The video opens on a small waterfall.

Despite its size, the sound of the water is deafening as it rushes downstream toward the camera.

Just imagine the sound of the strength, of the force of the water running, running, running,

if you've been to the Colorado River, the rapids,

it's something like this.

The camera dives under the water's surface,

and there appears a row of leafy green plants,

somehow tethered to a rock in the fast-moving current,

...