X is for ......
What do you call a plant in the desert?
Well, you could call it cacti and ignore all the other plants. Or you could call them drought resistant. The correct answer is Xerophyte.
There are many tricks that desert plants have to save water. The first trick that all plants with leaves do is to Abscission. This is when a plant intentionally sheds its leaves. This process is more complex than stopping all nutrients from routing to the leaf.
The plant can choose to wilt the leaf to prevent water loss. If the loss is too severe, it will start to extract resources from the leaf back to the plant. If the plant is under attack by certain insects, it can also trigger abscission by stopping new leaves from being formed.
The next trick that those plants have is that their leaves are also different. If those plants have leaves, the leaves are often covered with a waxy surface to prevent water loss through transpiration. The waxy surface helps reflect light and thus heat.
Another trick up these succulent xerophytes have is that their photosynthesis is quite different. Most plants take in carbon dioxide during the day when photosynthesis is ongoing. These outliers use something called CAM (Crassulacean acid metabolism) photosynthesis. They take in carbon dioxide during the night so that the plant does not need to open their stomata during the day.
On one more myth about plants. Even if the plant is using normal photosynthesis, it does not become a health hazard just because it is giving out carbon dioxide at night. The volume of carbon dioxide plants give out is lower than that of humans.
Well, you could call it cacti and ignore all the other plants. Or you could call them drought resistant. The correct answer is Xerophyte.
There are many tricks that desert plants have to save water. The first trick that all plants with leaves do is to Abscission. This is when a plant intentionally sheds its leaves. This process is more complex than stopping all nutrients from routing to the leaf.
The plant can choose to wilt the leaf to prevent water loss. If the loss is too severe, it will start to extract resources from the leaf back to the plant. If the plant is under attack by certain insects, it can also trigger abscission by stopping new leaves from being formed.
The next trick that those plants have is that their leaves are also different. If those plants have leaves, the leaves are often covered with a waxy surface to prevent water loss through transpiration. The waxy surface helps reflect light and thus heat.
Another trick up these succulent xerophytes have is that their photosynthesis is quite different. Most plants take in carbon dioxide during the day when photosynthesis is ongoing. These outliers use something called CAM (Crassulacean acid metabolism) photosynthesis. They take in carbon dioxide during the night so that the plant does not need to open their stomata during the day.
On one more myth about plants. Even if the plant is using normal photosynthesis, it does not become a health hazard just because it is giving out carbon dioxide at night. The volume of carbon dioxide plants give out is lower than that of humans.
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