The Fascinating Way Scientists Created Glowing Succulent Plants
Recent years have seen a soaring rise in the popularity of succulents, earning them a reputation as the quintessential houseplants of the Millennial generation. Native to dry regions in Africa and the Americas, succulents possess one of the main characteristics of plants that grow in desert climates, that being a low need for water. They require very little effort and expense to care for, which makes them ideal for plant lovers with tight budgets and crushing burnout, an identity many young professionals can relate to. They put succulents in the horticultural spotlight, and now some are looking to take the trend to a new level with succulents that produce a light of their own.
In a study published August 2025 in the journal Matter, the researchers from South China Agricultural University revealed how they made the popular succulent Echeveria "Mebina" glow in the dark. Instead of editing plant genetics, the team directly injected Mebina succulent plants with nanoparticles of a chemical used in glow-in-the-dark toys. It's called strontium aluminate (SrAl2O4), and it can absorb photons from light, and then gradually release them as a low-level glow. However, the structure of strontium aluminate makes it so that the glow can only result from a "forbidden transition," a term used for chemical reactions with low probability. To guarantee the effect, the strontium aluminate must be combined with another chemical, typically europium, which can make it glow for several hours.
Could plants become our new lightbulbs?
The researchers in China tried injecting several different plants with strontium aluminate, and found that the size of the intercellular space in Echeveria "Mebina" is perfect for distributing and holding the chemical. They've managed to create plants that glow in green, orange, red, blue, and even rainbow. When exposed to direct sunlight for a few minutes, they can absorb enough photons to glow for two hours, and they can be recharged rapidly anytime the glow runs out.
This effect wasn't entirely unheard of before; in 2020, a research team managed to make tobacco plants glow by editing their genome with DNA sequences from bioluminescent mushrooms. Many types of fungi glow, as do many algae and, of course, bioluminescent bugs like fireflies. However, bioluminescence was never observed in plants before humans got involved. But the process of genetically editing plants isn't exactly efficient, and the results of those early experiments could only produce one color: a glowstick green.
These succulents illustrate a way for plants to absorb light that isn't photosynthesis, and some are dreaming of a world where luscious glowing plants replace standard lightbulbs. That's a lofty dream, however, as the need for direct sunlight and the plants' dimmer glow don't come close to the practicality of electric lighting. Plus, nobody is quite sure yet how this inorganic chemical might affect plants in the long term.