xerophyte

/ˌzɪrəˈfaɪt/

Other forms: xerophytes

A xerophyte is a plant that can survive with very little water. Cactuses are able to thrive in the driest desert conditions because they're xerophytes.

The Greek roots of xerophyte are xeros, "dry," and phyton, "a plant." Botanists use this term for species that have adapted to thrive in conditions that would quickly kill other plants. It makes perfect sense that a cactus in a barren desert falls into this category, but it may be surprising to learn that pineapples are also xerophytes, with shallow roots and curved leaves adapted to send any moisture into the plant's center.

Definitions of xerophyte

1. noun

   plant adapted for life with a limited supply of water; compare hydrophyte and mesophyte
   synonyms: desert plant, xerophile, xerophilous plant, xerophytic plant

   types:

   American aloe, agave, century plant

   tropical American plants with basal rosettes of fibrous sword-shaped leaves and flowers in tall spikes; some cultivated for ornament or for fiber

   Agave americana, American agave

   widely cultivated American monocarpic plant with greenish-white flowers on a tall stalk; blooms only after ten to twenty years and then dies

   Agave sisalana, sisal

   Mexican or West Indian plant with large fleshy leaves yielding a stiff fiber used in e.g. rope

   Agave cantala, cantala, maguey

   Philippine plant yielding a hard fibre used in making coarse twine

   Agave atrovirens, maguey

   Mexican plant used especially for making pulque which is the source of the colorless Mexican liquor, mescal

   Agave tequilana

   Mexican plant used especially for making tequila

   dracaena

   an agave that is often cultivated for its decorative foliage

   Nolina microcarpa, bear grass

   stemless plant with tufts of grasslike leaves and erect panicle of minute creamy white flowers; southwestern United States and Mexico

   bowstring hemp, sansevieria

   grown as a houseplant for its mottled fleshy sword-shaped leaves or as a source of fiber

   type of:

   tracheophyte, vascular plant

   green plant having a vascular system: ferns, gymnosperms, angiosperms