Aired and hills plants

 

Aired plants

Desert is a place with very little rain, and so only some plants especially adopted to dry climate, like cacti, grow here

Water for plants In the desert

As there is very little water on the land surface, plants grow long roots to top underground water. Mesquite roots usually go 10m under the land surface, and at the time grow as deep as 50m.

Water-saving plants

As water is very less in the deserts, plants here have adapted themselves to survive dry conditions. The leaves of the desert plant are usually waxy and minimal. This is to save water that evaporates from the leaves.

Self - amputating plant

The quiver trees stores water in the soft fiber of its branches and trunk. But the dry condition of the desert, it saves water by sealing off its branches. These branches look like amputated limbs.

Saguaro

The biggest cactus in the world is the saguaro is the southwest USA and Mexico that is at time 20 m tall and 0.6 m thick.

Oasis

Oases are though places is the Sahara desert in Africa, where there are water - bearing rocks that make the places suitable for growing palm trees.

Flowering Cacti

Every few years cacti produce large colorful flowers for pollinating.

Blooms in the desert

Whenever there is rain in the desert, dormant seeds suddenly burst into brief bloom.

Window plants

Some desert plants, like the pebble plant, grow partly under the ground to survive the heat. But the window plant totally buries itself under the ground, except for a very small button - shaped part to get sunlight.

Cacti in the death valley

Cacti are remarkable plant that live in American deserts. This plant have no leaves so there is minimal water loss. The skin is thick and stems are bulky and hold enough water for their survival. These are also called succulents.

Prickly cactus

Green plants are very rare in the desert so animal eat anything they find. Desert plant like cacti, prickly pears and thorn bushes, grow thorns bushes, grow thons so thorns so that animal do not it them.

 

Plant on Hills

Where do plants live on mountains?

The higher is the place along the mountain, the colder, windier and wetter is the weather. In some places, mountain tops are snow - covered permanently. The mountain plants become hardy, and they also get smaller along the height -  big trees such as conifers on the lower slopes to tiny flowers, low grasses and mosses on the top.

Tree-line

Tree-line is the height beyond which the trees cannot survive the cold weather. It is different for different places, it is the lowest near the Alps, the tree-line is about 2,800 m.

Plant on rock-faces

Mountain plants, like the purple saxifrage and starry saxifrage have hard, piercing roots that grow even in cracks and crevices in the mountain rocks. These were earlier though to be able to actually crack the rock. Even the word saxifrage in their name means 'stone - breaker'.

Why do some alpine flowers have big blooms?

The purple saxifrage and the snow gentian in the mountains grow big colourful flowers to attract the very few insects that live there for pollination.

Edelweiss

The coat of woolly hairs on the flowers and leaves of the edelweiss protects it from the cold in the high and rocky Alps.

Alpine flowers and the short summer

The summer is very short at places near the snow-ling. So , the alpine snowbell develops its flower buds the previous summer that lie dormant under a protective blanket of snow throughout the winter, and readily flowers as soon as spring comes.

Alpine plants and the cold

Alpine plants have different ways of surviving in the cold season. Some plants, like edelweiss, cover themselves with a coat of woolly hairs, other have thick, waxy leaves. The Himalayan saussurea is almost totally wool. Yet others, like the daisies of Tasmania, have tightly added cushioned stems.

Freezing plants

In the high mountain areas, many plant actually thrive under the snow. This is because snow acts like a blanket by keeping ice and wind away, and thus saves the plant from being frozen to death. Alpine grasses keep alive and green under the snow, and are ready to grow again when the snow melts.

Large tree-like dandelions

On Mt Kenya in Africa, the scorching sun and icy mountain nights have created giant over 10 m tall groundsels, which are small plants similar to dandelions elsewhere, but on Mt Kenya it grows huge. Similarly, the European lobelia, a tiny plant, grows huge on Mt Kenya.