Succulent City - About Cacti

Posted by Lary on April 15th, 2019

"Cacti are plants supplied with spines and adapted to life in the desert." 
That's what most of us know about cacti. That's only partially true.
Most cacti belong to a large group of plants that we called succulent plants, 
or flesh-due to fleshy, mainly leaves that contain a large amount of water. 
There are except cacti and Aloe, Agave, defiance but also some plants that are very rare
outside of their habitat and many are unknown. 
Since in nature there are some other terrestrial plants or, for example, 
algae that also contain a large amount of water (over 90%), which is then the difference 
between them and say the cactus. Succulent plants (including cacti) are able to survive long
drought periods using the water reserves they contain in their body. 
Succulent plants can also be out of the ground on which they grow for days or even years 
without fatal consequences. They will survive a long period without even rooting. 
The case of cactus that survived the Second World War in the basement of a house in Poland 
without a bit of watering is known.Succulent plants are divided into three groups according 
to which part of the body they store water reserves: in leaves, in a tree or in the root. 
Bold leaves have, for example, aloe and agave. It has thickened roots, for example,ceropegia. 
Cacti have a thick tree and keep their reserves there. There is a small number of species 
that have a thickened root, so that they also retain a part of the reserve water.
Cacti can be conditionally divided into those living in deserts and those living in tropical forests.
These others are called epiphytes and generally have a thin flat tree that rests on other 
surrounding trees. They even release the adventive roots on the tree that they better 
accept for their host. They are not parasites because everything they need is taken from 
the environment, not from the plant to which it climbs. It includes about 120 species of 
cactus, which is about 7% of the whole family. These are: Epiphyllum, Disocactus, Eccremocactus, 
Schlumbergera, Nopalxochia, Rhipsalis, Aporocactus et al. These cacti were brought 
to Europe around 1700 and became very popular because they have beautiful flowers. 
In fact, the largest and smallest flower cactus is found in this group. 
In addition, many have an unusual look because they are pollinated by hummingbirds.
To return to the larger group-cacti inhabiting the deserts and semi-deserts of North and South America.

To read more about succulents, please visit Succulent City.