Succulent

Cultivation: Succulents are favored as houseplants for their attractiveness and ease of care. If properly potted succulents require little maintenance to survive indoors. Succulents are very adaptable houseplants and will thrive in a range of indoor conditions. For most plant owners over-watering and associated infections are main cause of death in succulents. Succulents can be propagated by different means. The most common one is the vegetative propagation. They include cuttings where several inches of stem with leaves are cut and after healing produce a callus. After a week or so, roots may grow. A second method is division consisting of uprooting an overgrown clump and pulling the stems and roots apart. The easiest one is allowing the formation of callus from a leaf. The vegetative propagation can be different according to the species. Appearance: The storage of water often gives succulent plants a more swollen or fleshy appearance than other plants, a characteristic known as succulence. In addition to succulence, succulent plants variously have other water-saving features. These may include: Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) to minimize water loss absent, reduced, or cylindrical-to-spherical leaves reduction in the number of stomata stems as the main site of photosynthesis, rather than leaves compact, reduced, cushion-like, columnar, or spherical growth form ribs enabling rapid increases in plant volume and decreasing surface area exposed to the sun waxy, hairy, or spiny outer surface to create a humid micro-habitat around the plant, which reduces air movement near the surface of the plant, and thereby reduces water loss and creates shade roots very near the surface of the soil, so they are able to take up moisture from very small showers or even from heavy dew ability to remain plump and full of water even with high internal temperatures (e.g., 52 °C or 126 °F)[16] very impervious outer cuticle (skin) mucilaginous substances, which retain water abundantly Origins: Many succulents come from dry areas such as steppes, semi-desert, and desert. High temperatures and low precipitation force plants to collect and store water to survive long dry periods. Some species of cactus can survive for months without rainfall.[17] Succulents may occasionally occur as epiphytes, growing on other plants with limited or no contact with the ground, and are dependent on their ability to store water and gain nutrients by other means; this niche is seen in Tillandsia. Succulents also occur as inhabitants of sea coasts and dry lakes, which are exposed to high levels of dissolved minerals that are deadly to many other plant species.