Human beings are 70% water and must drink water regularly in order to stay hydrated and in good health. Plants and animals also need water to survive, so it is rather interesting how succulents go days without water.Succulents are great plants to have in your garden as they are characterised by fleshy water-storing tissues that act as water reservoirs and have adapted to arid conditions. The common cactus is probably about the most well-known succulent, but there are many more.
How Succulents Go Days without Water
Succulents belong to a set of plants called xerophytes, which means that they have evolved in order to survive in extremely water-scarce regions. Although all plants are able to do what succulents are renowned for, succulents just take it to a whole other level.
There are succulents in a wide range of plant families, and they can be found in a wide variety of locales, including in the most arid of deserts, rooted to high-rise patches of moss or bark and in the upper reaches of tropical rain forests, on the shores of salty bodies of water, and in lofty mountainous regions.
While succulents can do with a minimum of water, there are some desert regions that are even too arid for succulents because they do need at least a few inches of rain annually. Human beings must drink water at least a few times daily in order to remain in good health, and if there is no drinking water available they can get dehydrated quite quickly.
Unlike humans, succulents have adapted to changing climates and seasons over the years to a point where they can rapidly gather any water that come their way, storing it for later use.
Although succulents are rather diverse in looks, they all share a various basic fundamental characteristics. The name succulent is derived from their ability for succulence (juiciness). Some succulents can store up to a year’s supply of water in their stems, roots or leaves.
Their fantastic root systems are how succulents can go days without water; their roots dig down deep to glean subterranean water sources in mountainous regions and in deserts they spread shallowly but incredibly broadly in order to gather any water that may be on the surface such as morning dew.
The strange shapes that succulents have, as well as adaptations to the stems, help them to process sunlight and to expand as needed when storing water. Some succulents sever ties with roots and other growths when there is minimal water available. Their spines, spikes and thick armoured skin serve both to protect the succulents from those who would steal the stored water and as a collection place for water.
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