succulent

Information about succulent

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Succulent plants, such as this Aloe, store water in their fleshy leaves
Succulent plants, also known as succulents or fat plants, are water-retaining plants adapted to arid climate or soil conditions. Succulent plants store water in their leaves, stems and/or roots. The storage of water often gives succulent plants a more swollen or fleshy appearance than other plants, also known as succulence. In addition to succulence, succulent plants variously have other water-saving features. These may include:
  • CAM metabolism to minimize water loss
  • Absent, reduced, or cylindrical to spherical leaves
  • reduction in the number of stomata
  • stems, rather than leaves, as the main site of photosynthesis
  • a compact, reduced, cushion-like, columnar or spherical growth form
  • ribs enabling rapid increases in plant volume and decreasing surface area exposed to the sun
  • waxy, hairy or spiny outer surface to reduce water loss via the creation of a humid microhabitat around the plant and a reduction in air movement near the surface of the plant.
Many succulents come from the dry areas of the tropics and subtropics, such as steppes, semi-desert and desert. High temperatures and low precipitation force plants to collect and store water in order to survive long dry periods. Succulents also occur as epiphytes, as such they have limited or no contact with the ground, and are dependent on their ability to store water. Succulents also occur as inhabitants of sea coasts, or salt pans which are exposed to high levels of dissolved minerals.

The best known succulents are cacti (family: Cactaceae). Virtually all cacti are succulents, but many succulents are not cacti.

Families and genera

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Aizoaceae:Lithops julii, leaf succulent
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Apocynaceae:Pachypodium lealii, stem succulent
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Asphodelaceae:Haworthia arachnoidea, leaf succulent
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Bombaceae:Adansonia gregorii, stem succulent
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Cactaceae:Rebutia muscula, stem succulent
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Euphorbiaceae:Euphorbia obesa ssp. symmetrica, stem succulent
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Cylindropuntia imbricata:''stem, woody succulent
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Moringaceae:Moringa ovalifolia, stem succulent
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Nolinaceae:Beaucarnea recurvata, stem succulent
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Ruscaceae:Dracaena draco, stem succulent
Plant families and genera in which succulent species occur are listed below. For some families, most members are succulent; for example the Cactaceae, Agavaceae, Aizoaceae, and Crassulaceae.

The table below shows the number of succulent species found in some families:

Family Succulent # Modified parts Distribution
Agavaceae300LeafNorth and Central America
Cactaceae1600Stem (root, leaf)The Americas
Crassulaceae1300Leaf (root)Worldwide
Aizoaceae2000LeafSouthern Africa
Apocynaceae500StemAfrica, Arabia, India
Didiereaceae11StemMadagascar (endemic)
Euphorbiaceae> 1000Stem and/or leaf and/or rootAfrica, Madagascar, Asia, the Americas, Europe, Australia
Asphodelaceae500LeafAfrica, Madagascar
Portulacaceae?Leaf and stemThe Americas
Water is a common chemical substance that is essential to all known forms of life.[1] In typical usage, water refers only to its liquid form or state, but the substance also has a solid state, ice, and a gaseous state, water vapor.
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Plantae
Haeckel, 1866[1]

Divisions

Green algae
  • Chlorophyta
  • Charophyta
Land plants (embryophytes)
  • Non-vascular land plants (bryophytes)

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In general terms, the climate of a locale or region is said to be arid when it is characterized by a severe lack of available water, to the extent of hindering or even preventing the growth and development of plant and animal life.
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SOiL is a five-piece Hard Rock band from Chicago, Illinois, United States. They formed in 1997 and are still active. They are signed to DRT Entertainment and have released four albums, their most recent being True Self which was released in March 27 2006.
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leaf is an above-ground plant organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat (laminar) and thin, to expose the cells containing chloroplast (chlorenchyma tissue, a type of parenchyma) to light over a broad area, and to allow light to penetrate
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stem is one of two main structural axes of a vascular plant. The stem is normally divided into nodes and internodes, the nodes hold buds which grow into one or more leaves, inflorescence (flowers), cones or other stems etc.
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ROOT is an object-oriented software package developed by CERN. It was originally designed for particle physics data analysis and contains several features specific to this field, but it is also commonly used in other applications such as astronomy and data mining.
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Crassulacean acid metabolism, also known as CAM photosynthesis, is an elaborate carbon fixation pathway in some photosynthetic plants. CAM is usually found in plants living in arid conditions, including cacti and pineapples.
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stomata) is a tiny opening or pore, found mostly on the underside of a plant leaf, and used for gas exchange. The pore is formed by a pair of specialized sclerenchyma cells known as guard cells which are responsible for regulating the size of the opening.
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tropics are the geographic region of the Earth centered on the equator and limited in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere, at approximately 23°30' (23.5°) N latitude, and the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern hemisphere at 23°30' (23.5°) S latitude.
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The subtropics are the zones of the Earth immediately north and south of the tropic zone, which is bounded by the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, at latitude 23.5 ° north and south.
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steppe (Russian: степь - [sʲtʲepʲ], Ukrainian: степ
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A Semi-arid climate or steppe climate generally describes climatic regions that receive low annual rainfall (250-500 mm or 10-20 in). A more precise definition is given by the Köppen climate classification that treats steppe climates (BS) as intermediates between the desert
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desert is a landscape form or region that receives very little precipitation. Deserts are defined as areas that receive an average annual precipitation of less than 250 mm (10 in). In the Köppen climate classification system, deserts are classed as (BW).
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precipitation (also known as hydrometeor) is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that is deposited on the earth's surface. It occurs when the atmosphere (being a large gaseous solution) becomes saturated with water vapour and the water condenses and
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epiphyte is an organism that grows upon or attached to a living plant. The term most commonly refers to higher plants, but epiphytic bacteria, fungi (epiphytic fungi), algae, lichens, mosses, and ferns exist as well.
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The three-letter acronym SEA may refer to:
  • Scientists and Engineers for America, a pro-science political advocacy group.
  • Schoof-Elkies-Atkin algorithm
  • Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (IATA: SEA, ICAO: KSEA)
  • Sea Education Association

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coast is defined as the part of the land adjoining or near the ocean. A coastline is properly a line on a map indicating the disposition of a coast, but the word is often used to refer to the coast itself.
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Salt pans can refer to:
  • Salt pan (geology), a flat expanse of ground covered with salt and other minerals, usually found in deserts
  • Salt evaporation pond, a method of salt winning by evaporating brine

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Cactus, see Mammillaria, Melocactus, and Opuntia.
Cacti redirects here. For the software, see Cacti (software).


Cacti

Ferocactus pilosus

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family (Latin: familia, plural familiae) is a rank, or a taxon in that rank. Exact details of formal nomenclature depend on the Nomenclature Code which applies.
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Cactus, see Mammillaria, Melocactus, and Opuntia.
Cacti redirects here. For the software, see Cacti (software).


Cacti

Ferocactus pilosus

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Agavaceae
Hutchinson

Type genus
Agave
L.

Genera

See text.

Agavaceae is a family of plants that includes many well-known desert and dry zone types such as the agave, yucca, and Joshua tree.
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Agave
L.

Species

see text. See also full listing.

Agave is the name of a succulent plant of a large botanical genus of the same name, belonging to the family Agavaceae.
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Beschorneria
Kunth

Species
See text

Beschorneria is a genus of succulent plants belonging to the family Agavaceae.

Species include:
  • Beschorneria bracteata, which is native to Mexico.

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Chlorophytum
Ker Gawl.

Species

About 200-220, including:
Chlorophytum amaniense
Chlorophytum arundinaceum
Chlorophytum bichetii
Chlorophytum borivilianum
Chlorophytum capense

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Furcraea
Vent.

Species
See text

Furcraea is a genus of succulent plants belonging to the family Agavaceae, native to tropical regions of Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America and northern South America.
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Hesperaloe

Species

see text.
Hesperaloe is a genus of perennial yucca-like plants classified in the flowering plant family Agavaceae (Agave family).
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Hesperoyucca
(Engelmann) Baker

Species
See text

Hesperoyucca is a small genus of three species of flowering plants in the family Agavaceae, closely related to and recently split from Yucca
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Yucca
L.

Species

many, see text

The yuccas comprise the genus Yucca of 40-50 species of perennials, shrubs, and trees in the agave family Agavaceae, notable for their rosettes of evergreen, tough, sword-shaped leaves and
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