Cacti have numerous adaptations that enable them to survive in arid climates; these adaptations enable the plant to efficiently gather water, store it for a long time, and conserve it (minimizing water loss from evaporation).
Cacti have thick, succulent stems with rigid walls that store water when it rains. The stems are fleshy, green, and photosynthetic. Either the stem’s inside is spongey or hollow (depending on the cactus). The water inside the cactus is prevented from evaporating by a thick, waxy layer.
Long, fibrous roots are common in cactus, and these roots take moisture from the earth. Some cacti, such as ball cacti, have smaller, more compact roots that can capture dew that falls from the cactus.
Most cacti feature scales or spines in place of leaves (which are modified leaves). These scales and spines do not evaporate their water (unlike regular leaves, which lose a lot of water). Predators (animals that would like to consume the cactus to gain food and/or water) are kept at bay by the spines. On a cactus, areoles are a circular collection of spines. An areole is where flowers bud, and it is also where new stems branch.
Why do cacti have tiny spines and a big meaty stem?
Why do cacti differ from other plants in having thorns instead of leaves and a thick, meaty stem?
The appropriate choices are A The cacti can hold more water as a result. Water would be lost because of broad leaves. In the desert, you can find thorny shrubs and cactus. Their thick, fleshy stems allow them to hold more water for a longer period of time. In addition, plants in the desert have thorns rather than leaves because big, broad leaves would make water evaporate quickly. Water moves through a plant during transpiration, and it evaporates from aerial parts including leaves, stems, and flowers.
Why do plants that flourish in arid environments have thick stems?
- To stop water from evaporating from the surface of leaves, leaves are reduced to spines. Fewer and sunken stomata are present.
- In order to stop water loss in hot conditions, both leaves and stems have a thick waxy coating.
- To perform the role of leaves, the stem turns green.
“Hello, everyone. My name is Neha, and I’m here to welcome you to today’s leaders online assignment solving session. The following query will be examined. Describe any adaption you have noticed in the desert that is geared at making friends, according to the question. To adapt Asians, which is primarily observed in desert plants, we must describe any. We all understand that there is a lack of water in deserts. Therefore, the first adaption that we see is that you Beeps are accustomed to spines.
Even in this storm, we can still discern second adaptation traits, such as sucking, on the surface of the leaves, which are visible on both stems. The leaves and stems are heavily waxed.
So how does this thick waxy coating help? In hot conditions, it actually stops water from evaporating. As you can see, the initial adaption features spines, so stop reducing when you reach them. Next, we have a thick waxy coating, which is visible in the second image as well.
The stem is you. It turns green. so that it can perform the leaf’s role. These are the characteristics of adaptability that are present in desert plants. Please leave a comment below if you have any queries, and be sure to follow this channel for regular updates. I’m grateful.
How can a cactus benefit from a fleshy stem?
Hint: Cactus plants are desert residents that thrive in arid environments. These plants have adapted to stop water from evaporating from their surface.
Complete response: Cladophylls are modified stems with a leaf-like appearance and a green color that are specialized for photosynthesis. They are typically flattened.
A cladophyll is a leaf even though it is anatomically a branch because it has nodes from which new stems, leaves, flowers, and even roots can grow. When it rains, cacti’s thick, tough-walled, succulent stems can hold water. The stem is typically either hollow or spongy on the inside. A thick, waxy layer prevents the stem from losing any water. It prevents evaporation by keeping the water inside the cactus.
Informational note: The cactus have lost their true leaves. Additionally modified with spines, the cactus’ leaves aid in lowering transpiration. Cacti’s spines also offer some protection from animals and cover. Areoles give rise to these specialized structures (highly reduced branches). Areoles are a distinguishing characteristic of cacti plants. Additionally, they produce tubular and multi-petaled flowers. Therefore, “Stems engineered to generate food using photosynthesis” is the right response.
Note: Cladophylls make up a large portion of succulents. – Cladodes, or prickly pear pads, are other names for cladophylls. – Flowers from various plants are produced by cacti, and these flowers are typically showy, delicate, and very alluring. – The pad cactus, sometimes known as prickly pear cacti, are found in the genus Opuntia, which is a sizable genus. The prickly pears are the fruit.
What exactly is a thick, meaty stem?
Any plant that has fleshy, thick tissues that can store water is considered succulent. Some succulents, like cacti, only store water in the stem and have no or few leaves, but other succulents, like agaves, primarily store water in the leaves. The majority of succulents are endemic to deserts or areas with a semiarid season and have deep or wide root systems. More than 60 plant families have succulent species, with the Aizoaceae, Cactaceae, and Crassulaceae having the highest proportions. Aloe, Echeveria, Kalanchoe, and other plants are among those that are grown as ornamentals and indoor plants.
The timing of the opening of stomata, which are tiny mouthlike structures on the surface of plant leaves and stems, is one adaptation shared by many succulents. Stomata enable the exchange of water and oxygen with the environment as well as the uptake of carbon dioxide from the environment. The stomata of many succulent plants are closed during the day and open at night, in contrast to those of most plants. As a result, less water loss (transpiration) happens during the hot, dry daylight hours, while carbon dioxide (CO2) uptake takes place at night. As a result, these succulent plants display crassulacean acid metabolism, a modified form of CO2 fixation and photosynthesis.
What do you call the cactus stem?
A perennial plant is a cactus. Their cylindrical or flattened stalks are covered in meat or succulents. The photosynthetic, green stems typically serve this purpose instead of the leaves, which are typically much diminished in number or entirely nonexistent in most adult cacti. Sharp bristles and spines that cover the majority of cactus species provide excellent protection and discourage most herbivores.
Cactus plants feature multiple surface areoles, which are cushion- or pit-like structures from which clusters of spines typically emerge. Areoles are typically understood in terms of developmental biology as axillary stem branches that are still in the process of developing. In reality, the spines are modified leaves. Additional defenses for the areoles include hook-like barbs called glochidia. Cacti have shallow, potentially widely dispersed soil roots.
Cacti typically have complete (bisexual) flowers that have both male reproductive organs (stamens) and female parts (a pistil). Although numerous distinct flowers may be present on a cactus at once, the flowers usually appear alone rather than in clusters. Most cacti species have huge, beautiful flowers that can be white, red, pink, orange, or yellow but seldom blue. The multiple petals and the sepal-like calyx combine to form an attractive, frequently fragrant flower that produces nectar and attracts pollinators including hawkmoths, bees, bats, and birds, particularly hummingbirds and tiny doves. The fruit is a berry with many seeds.
Cacti are xerophytic plants, which means they have evolved physiologically and morphologically to survive in extremely dry environments like deserts. The following characteristics of cacti make them suitable for xerophytic environments: (1) their succulent, water-retentive stems; (2) a thick, waxy cuticle and few or no leaves to significantly reduce water losses through transpiration; (3) stems that are photosynthetic, so leaves are not necessary to carry out this function; (4) stems that are cylindrical or spherical in shape, which lowers the surface to volume ratio and aids in moisture preservation; and, finally, (8) a periodic pattern of growth, productivity, and flowering that takes advantage of the moisture availability during the brief rainy season, while the plant remains dormant at drier times of the year. (5) tolerance of high tissue temperatures; (6) protection of the biomass and moisture reserves from herbivores by an armament of stout spines; (7) a physiological tolerance of long periods of drought; and (8) tolerance to high tissue temperatures.
As part of their so-called crassulacean-acid metabolism, cacti only absorb atmospheric carbon dioxide at night when their stomates are open. When the sun is shining during the day, the carbon dioxide is fixed into four-carbon organic acids and can then be released within the plant to be converted into sugars by photosynthesis. The crassulacean-acid metabolism, which enables stomates to remain tightly closed during the day, is an effective method of water conservation in arid settings.
In Texas’ Big Bend National Park, a prickly pear cactus. The only common eastern cactus in the United States is the prickly pear. As far north as southern Ontario, it can be found. By Robert J. Huffman, a photograph. Publications by Field Mark. Reproduction permitted.
Despite not being related to cactus, some dryland plant species look very similar to one another (at least, apart from their flowers and fruits, which are always distinctive among plant families). Convergent evolution—the similar evolutionary growth of unrelated species or families under similar types of environmental selective pressures—is what led to this. Non-botanists frequently mistake some species of spurges (family Euphorbiaceae) that grow in arid environments for cactus, despite the fact that they are actually relatively unrelated.
Why is the cactus stem green and fleshy?
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The answer is that cacti are xerophytic plants. The plant’s stem has evolved into a flat, leafy, fleshy structure that aids in water storage and facilitates photosynthesis. The addition of spines to the leaves aids in lowering transpiration.
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How do cacti develop?
Birds, wind, and rain all disperse cactus seed. A cactus plant can produce a million seeds over the course of its lifetime, but only one or two of those seeds will germinate into a new cactus. Some cacti reproduce asexually, without seeds or flowers, while others reproduce sexually.
How have cacti evolved to live?
A cactus may endure in the desert because it has the following characteristics: I It has lengthy roots that bury themselves deeply in the ground to capture water. (ii) In order to reduce water loss through transpiration, the leaves have spines. (iii) To hold onto water, the stem of the plant is wrapped in a thick waxy covering.
Why do desert plants have fleshy stems?
To prevent water loss from them. Explanation: Because there is little water in the desert, plants produce thick, fleshy stems to help them adapt to their environment and survive.
What thick, green portion of the cactus plant?
When it rains, water is stored in the thick, hard-walled, succulent stem of the cactus. The stems are fleshy, green, and photosynthetic. Either the stem’s inside is spongey or hollow (depending on the cactus). The water inside the cactus is prevented from evaporating by a thick, waxy layer.
A cactus does not have stems.
The cactus appears to be more ideally suited to living in arid climates than most other plants. Saguaro cacti in particular have come to represent the American southwest. The saguaro is not one of the nine species of cactus that may be found at Arches. (Use the Wildflowers page to search for them by name or color.)
Cacti are plants with succulent stems, pads, or branches that lack leaves in favor of scales and spines. The waxy pads on cactus plants are essentially modified stems. The modified leaves with prickly spines break up evaporative winds blowing across pad surfaces and provide shade for the stem. Since most root systems are broad and shallow, precipitation is readily absorbed. As soon as rain moistens the earth, little rain roots begin to sprout and eventually dry up.
All plants use a process called photosynthetic respiration to gather carbon dioxide through stomata, holes in their leaves, and transform it into sugar and oxygen. Cacti use CAM photosynthesis, a method that only succulents can use. Since stomata only open at night, when the plant is relatively cool, less moisture is lost by transpiration in CAM photosynthesis.
However, sunshine 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. Stomata function similarly to windows in that light can enter even when they are closed since they must be left open to let air and water in or out.
The spiky defenses of cactus do not protect them from predators. Other mammals, such as bears and people, like the tasty red fruit of the prickly pear, while many rodents chew on cactus pads.
The most prevalent cactus in Arches is the prickly pear, which is distinguished by its flat, wide pads. They can stretch across the desert floor and have a propensity for horizontal growth. They produce flowers in the spring that range in color from pink to yellow. By the end of the summer, they produce fruit. They can endure the chilly winter weather because of the unique antifreeze molecules that are present in their cells.
Whipple’s fishhook is less frequent than the prickly pear. These tiny plants, which are typically solitary, feature spines that are hooked like fishhooks. They produce primarily pink or white blooms and bloom from April through July.