Randy writes:
Why not take a wide variety of plant seeds and some plant cuttings and swirl them around in salty water for several months and then throw them onto some ground that has been under salty water for a few months and see what grows.
Now, remember that not all plants produce seeds. Also, currently most plant species around the world are very sensitive to environmental changes. A typical houseplant like the spider plant dies if you let the temperature drop down to 60 or so for a few days.
Anyway, moving away from plants, currently there are many species of animal that require daily basking in sunlight to live. A classic example is the iguana, which requires a daily dose of 5-7 hours or so of sunlight to digest its food. Rain for 40 days and 40 nights would have meant no sunlight at all for this poor creature. How did the iguana and similar creatures survive the flood?