How did these flowers evolve to survive a megadrought?

Short Wave

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🗓️ 20 March 2026

⏱️ 8 minutes

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Summary

A multi-year megadrought in the Western U.S. has claimed untold populations of wild plants. Amid the conditions, some have survived. Scientists have produced a stunningly complete picture about how populations of one particular flower – the scarlet monkeyflower – made it through.

In a new study published in the journal Science, a team of scientists spent decades studying and sampling select populations of scarlet monkeyflowers in California and Oregon. Through genetic sequencing, the team discovered that the populations that did best went through genetic changes in a short time period. This is known as rapid evolution.

The team found that three of the populations that recovered the BEST adapted their stomata to open less, so they could conserve more water. Stomata act like a plant’s pores, managing gas exchange and water loss. This allowed the scarlet monkeyflowers to hunker down in the drought and survive.

Interested in more stories about rapid evolution? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to Shortwave from NPR.
0:05.6	Hey, Shortwavers, Emily Kwong here.
0:07.8	And Nate Roth, hello.
0:09.2	Hello.
0:10.0	And today we have our biweekly science news roundup featuring the host of All Things Considered.
0:14.3	And here with us is the glorious Elsa Chang.
0:17.2	Hi, hi, hi, hi.
0:18.9	Okay, I hear we're going to be talking about the social lives of sharks.
0:22.9	Yes, and we have another story about a rapidly evolving wildflower.
0:26.8	And another that looks at a, let's call it counterintuitive grooming behavior in birds.
0:31.6	All that on this episode of Shortwave, the science podcast from NPR.
0:44.2	Okay, Elsa, which story do you want to start with?
0:47.1	Ooh, well, I want to start with the wildflowers.
0:47.6	Lovely.
0:48.5	Good choice.
0:51.8	Yes, allow me to introduce you to the scarlet monkey flower.
0:56.0	That is a plant with vibrant red petals whose flowers kind of look like a grinning monkey.
0:57.8	That's amazing.
1:07.9	It is a plant that's bright red that has all this kind of pollen up front that's really set up for a hummingbird to just kind of fly in and drink some nectar.
1:11.7	Plant biologist Daniel Anstett at Cornell University said that without water,
1:13.9	these flowers will die in a few days.
1:21.0	However, several wild populations in California and Oregon survived this intense megadrought.
	...

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