Good day, dear guests!
We know that the closer the water is to the surface of the earth, the more the plant has a very rich color and grows much faster due to excess nutrition. But, there are cultures that, even in spite of the arid soil, do not die and grow as if nothing had happened. They are able to withstand drought for a very long period of time, it is these plants that experts call xerophytic plants.
Xerophytic plants belong to indicator plants, the physical structure of which differs sharply from other cultures, which I will discuss below.
I already wrote that when I moved to a new house, the topic of GWL (groundwater level) was for me at that time - very relevant, since literally for several years back, on the land that I bought - the groundwater level was only 50 cm, i.e. two bayonets of a shovel and a water horizon appears, so this situation is very close ...
Now, the employees of the town administration have taken care of this, having made a closed ditch 20 meters deep around the entire settlement.
So, indicator plants
In this article I will talk about xerophytic plants, which, due to their structure, have a branched root system with a very high sucking capacity and are able to store moisture in sufficient volumes, and such crops are adapted to conditions of moisture deficit and clearly indicate a low aquifer horizon.
In addition, this fact will help gardeners find out where it is not worth planting moisture-loving plants.
Thistle and wormwood
Fescue and feather grass
Sorghum and Sudanese
Wild aster and sand carnation
Bluegrass and sage
Melilot and sedum
Chisel and Polevichka
If you have noticed, then all such crops have a dense and / or fleshy structure, due to which transpiration (the rate of sap flow and evaporation through the external organs) is reduced. As a rule, they have narrow leaves and a thick cuticle, in this connection, experts divide xerophytic plants into two subspecies:
- Succulents - they have developed aquiferous tissue. They have fleshy juicy stems and leaves.
- Sclerophytes - have hard and dense leaves. Due to the high pressure of sap flow - their biological structure allows you to "squeeze" water from very dry soils.
Can you say that xerophytes do not like moisture?
No, all plants love moisture in one way or another, but each crop requires a different amount of nutrients and each species adapts to certain environmental conditions.
Using the example of plants growing only at high GWL, about which I wrote an article earlier (LINK to article), then here it is impossible to say unequivocally that if one thistle bush grows on the site, then the water is far away, but if several cultures from xerophytic plants and form a certain grouping, then the aquifer is precisely more than 3 m below the level land.
I hope this article was helpful to you. Thanks for attention!
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