Succulent plants resemble cacti in many aspects, with the exception that they contain genuine leaves rather than spines. Succulent plants have thick, “juicy” leaves. The stems can store water and are frequently rather thick.
What other plants resemble cacti?
Cacti come in a variety of species. However, there are other plants that resemble cactus but are not actually cacti. This article will provide you with a list of plants that resemble cacti but are actually different species. This will assist you in choosing cacti and will provide general knowledge.
How are cacti different from other plants?
One thing to keep in mind is that not all succulents are cacti, but all cacti are succulents. Although many succulents resemble cacti, they are not. Numerous succulents also resemble cacti thanks to their spines.
Cacti vary from other plants in the following ways:
- Areoles are only found in cactus. Flowers and fruits sprout from these bumpy patches and spikes. A plant is not a cactus even if it has spines but no areoles.
- Spines are separate organs that are present in cacti. A cactus spine should break if you tug on it without pulling the skin (skin). Other plants have epidermis-born spines that, if pulled, will rip the skin.
- Cactus flowers are distinctive and only bloom for a week at most.
Plants that look like cacti, but aren’t:
- Aloe
- Yucca
- Haworthia
- Stapelia
- Pachypodium
- Agave
- Euphorbia
- Ocotillo, or Fouquieria splendens
- Echeveria
- Gasteria
- Aizoaceae, or ice plants
- Huernia
- Lithops
Aloe
A succulent plant known as aloe resembles a cactus. This plant offers a number of health advantages, which makes it quite popular in medicine. Aloe comes in more than 450 different species.
Additionally, aloe has spikes on its stalks and blooms throughout the summer. It is a succulent once more, not a cactus. The most popular species is aloe vera.
Yucca
Yucca plants can be either shrubs or trees. These plants grow to be quite huge and have numerous leaves with various points. They generally thrive in cacti-like environments, and their pointed leaves give them the appearance of cacti. Similar to cactus, it is drought-resistant, requires little watering, and thrives in well-draining soil.
Haworthia
The Haworthia is a stunning succulent with thick, upward-growing leaves that frequently have little spikes on them. They are Southern African natives. They grow in rosettes of leaves.
Numerous Haworthia species have pointed leaf tips and sides as well as modest growth rates and extended lifespans. Some plants have leaves with a rough feel. The majority of Haworthia plants are tiny and look like aloe plants.
Stapelia
Beautiful succulent plants called stapelia are native to Africa. This plant also has blooms, and the flowers are typically an odd reddish-brown hue, shaped like a star, highly hairy, and odorous. The plant itself has thin, blunt spines on its leaves that resemble cacti. Although it is not a cactus, this plant is highly unusual.
Pachypodium
Succulent plants called Pachypodium grow as trees or bushes. They are incredibly unusual plants with strong trunks that can store water to withstand droughts. The top of Pachypodium contains leaves, and the trunk is frequently coated with spines.
The plant’s top has leaves and looks like a palm tree. The spines on this plant don’t regenerate and it grows very slowly. Even pachypodium produces huge white flowers 4-6 years after reaching its ideal size.
Agave
A plant in the genus of monocots known as agave, often known as the century plant, resembles cacti in certain ways. Tequila, sugar, and various medications are all made from specific agave species.
Large, thick leaves on these Agave plants grow vertically and frequently have a pointed tip. These plants are primarily found in South America in hot, arid regions where cacti are also found. They have an aloe-like appearance.
A group of plants known as euphorbia, often known as spurge, resemble cactus. There are numerous varieties of this plant, and the majority of them blossom and have spines. They don’t grow from areoles, but their spines resemble cacti’s quite closely.
In contrast to cactus, which typically feature big flowers, their blossoms are frequently modest. Furthermore, cacti don’t have latex in their stems, whereas euphorbia plants emit a white fluid that does. The euphorbia probably resembles cactus the most.
Ocotillo, or Fouquieria splendens
Although ocotillo resembles a cactus, it is not a true cactus. They go by several other names, including desert coral and Jacob’s cactus. Large plants called ocotillo have cactus-like spines on their leaves.
These plants can be found growing close to cactus in the Southwest of the United States and Mexico. The ocotillo plant resembles a stick because of its strong base and upward-growing stems with leaves that may be lacking. They bloom as well.
Echeveria
Despite not having a particularly cactus-like appearance, some people refer plants Echeveria as cacti. These are rosettes-forming stonecrop plants. They also blossom and flourish in rather arid circumstances.
They are frequently referred to as hens and chicks. This genus has a large number of plants, many of which grow in rosettes. Other plants, like those in the Sempervivum genus, also resemble hens and chicks.
Gasteria
People frequently mistake the succulent Gasteria for a cactus. This is so because Gasteria have large leaves with little spikes on them and a thick base. Most commonly found in South Africa, Gasteria can blossom and produce lovely, curled flowers.
Ice Plants, or Aizoaceae
A huge plant genus with more than 1600 species including ice plants. Some of them resemble Lithops, or stone plants, and others closely resemble the cactus Rhipsalis. They flourish in New Zealand and South Africa.
Huernia
Succulent plants belonging to the genus Huernia are found in Africa. These plants have tall stems with spikes on them and are very similar to Stapelia. They also have bell- or star-shaped blooms. Flowers are typically vibrant and have a variety of colors and textures.
Similar to Stapelia blooms, they frequently have a disagreeable odor. The plants resemble cactus a lot because of their spines. Particularly Huernia pillansii resembles a cactus in appearance.
Lithops, or Aizoaceae
Lithops are little stone plants that belong to the same family as ice plants. They are particularly unusual plants since they are tiny, rounded, and blossom. Living stones known as lithops are from southern Africa. You may learn more about Lithops care by reading our article, which is available here.
In the desert environment, which plant adaption is most prevalent?
Students will comprehend that qualities are inherited from parent organisms to their offspring and that offspring may exhibit variations of these features that may benefit or hinder survival in a particular environment. This is covered in Utah Science Core Curriculum Topic, Standard Five.
Comparing desert plant adaptations, riparian plant adaptations, and a few desert plants and animals adapted to nighttime activities allows students to learn about genetics. A story, a smelling game, a clue trail, plant keys, and rough observation and data collection are some of their field activities. In class exercises, students pretend to be a desert animal or plant and then design a fictional plant that has adaptations for surviving in the hypothetical habitat.
Objective(s)
a. Describe two riparian zone environmental features that are distinct from the desert’s surroundings.
b. Describe the interaction between a yucca moth and an evening-blooming yucca.
a. Describe three adaptations a plant might have to survive in a riparian or desert setting.
Overview
Desert plants have developed a variety of adaptations to cope with their dry habitat. Plant leaves have stomata, which are holes used for water transpiration. Many desert plants have fewer and smaller stomata than other plants do. Many cacti have stomata that are buried deep within their tissues. By preventing the hot, dry wind from directly hitting the stomata, this adaptation helps cactus conserve water.
Many desert plants have a thick, waxy covering on their leaves and stems. The majority of the leaves are covered by this waxy substance, which keeps the plants cooler and lowers evaporation loss but does not cover the stomata. Desert plants with small leaves also contribute to a reduction in transpirational moisture loss. Less evaporative surface per leaf results from smaller leaves. Furthermore, the temperature of a little leaf in the sun is lower than that of a large leaf in the sun.
Some plants, including cactus and Mormon tea, perform most or all of their photosynthesis in the stems of their green leaves. (In a botanical sense, the pads of cacti are stems.) During the wet season, some desert plants produce leaves, which they later drop when the weather gets dry once more. During wet times, several plants, especially blackbrush, photosynthesize in their leaves. Some of these plants can photosynthesize in their stems when drought strikes and the leaves fall off. Others reduce water loss even further by briefly stopping photosynthesis.
Other desert adaptations include spines or hairs to shade plants and break up sunlight, short, widely spaced roots to receive as much moisture from rainfall as possible, etc.
the following particular adaptations of desert plants:
Cacti – The modified stems that make up cactus pads have a waxy coating. Their roots are relatively shallow and only absorb fleeting moisture. As soon as rain moistens the soil, little rain roots can start to form. Later, they disappear. Prickly spines are modified leaves that can assist shade the stem and disperse evaporative winds blowing across pad surfaces. The stomata of cacti only open at night, when the plant is relatively chilly, allowing for less moisture loss through transpiration. Additionally, gases such as carbon dioxide entering the plant and oxygen leaving the plant flow through the stomata. This gas exchange takes place as part of the photosynthetic process. But sunlight is also necessary for photosynthesis. A method of chemically storing the carbon dioxide until the sun is out, when it may be used to complete the photosynthetic process, is part of the CAM process. (A stoma is like a window; it must be open for air and water to enter or exit, but sunlight can still enter even when it is closed.)
Desert annuals – By persisting as long-lived seeds deposited in the soil, often for decades, these plants survive drought and heat. The seeds have characteristics that ensure their growth and germination during moist conditions.
Globemallow – These reflect sunlight thanks to its abundant, star-shaped, grey hairs.
Juniper – The twigs and little branches are covered in thin, waxy scales in place of leaves. Waxy coatings are also present on fruits. During a drought, junipers have the capacity to cut off water to a large branch, leaving the tree alive but with a dead branch.
They are just somewhat parasitic, paintbrushes. To obtain food and moisture from their host, their roots pierce the roots of adjacent plants, typically sagebrush or grasses.
Pion pines rely on extensive root systems. In deep soils, pion taproots can extend 40 feet or more; in shallow soils, lateral roots can extend the same distance.
The plant known as sagebrush protects itself from heat, cold, and dry winds with its hairy leaves. The plant can provide food throughout the majority of the year since it keeps its leaves all year. Its leaves point in all directions, allowing them to catch sunlight from a variety of angles, and sagebrush can photosynthesize when temperatures are close to freezing. Sagebrush has evolved to withstand severe winters.
Some desert plants utilize the cooler nighttime temperatures to develop “active. Evening primrose, sacred datura, sand verbena, and yucca are some examples of night-blooming desert plants. Cacti benefit from milder nights as well. Stomata on cacti are typically open at night. As a result, the plant can transpire, or lose water, when it is likely to do so in the smallest amount. The remaining stages of cacti’s photosynthesis occur during the day.
Desert animals also benefit from the cool haven of the night. Desert animals rely on their other senses to guide them because they lack light for visual signals. Bats that consume nectar utilize echolocation to recognize plants that bloom at night. Similar to radar, echolocation involves the bat making a call and then picking up waves that are reflected back at it. The direction and size of the reflecting object are revealed by the reflection.
The relationship between the yucca and the yucca moth is remarkable at night. After mating, the female moth collects pollen from a single yucca blossom, rolls it up, and then flies into the night, mostly by using “She used her antenna to smell. Each time she visits a new flower, she deposits a few eggs at the base of the pistil and stuffs the pistil with pollen for her young to eat. She fertilizes the yucca blooms as a result. Only yucca moths can pollinate yucca blooms, and the young of these moths can only eat yucca pollen.
What adaptations does a cactus have?
Sunlight is reflected by white, thick spines. Spines offer cover! The fleshy, thick stem of cacti may hold a lot of water. To assist the cacti retain water, the stem possesses a waxy waterproof coating.
Why did euphorbia and cactus develop similar features?
The species of African and North American euphorbia are descended from two distinct but related plants. These organisms were typical early Earth herbaceous species, with broad, broad-leafed, large-stemmed leaves. However, once the early supercontinents Pangaea and Gondwana split apart, their evolutionary pathways started to change. Both plant families underwent convergent evolution to adapt and survive when climatic changes led to the emergence of severe, arid, desert habitats. Due to the fact that identical biomes can necessitate the same adaptations, cacti and euphorbias both converged on similar morphologies and metabolisms after being exposed to matching environments for extended periods of time.
- Longitudinal Rib-Covered Branching Stems
- shorter spines and smaller leaves
- spreads shallowly and has fibrous roots.
- Succulent stems act as a water storage system.
- Metabolism of Crustacean Acid