Cactus And Succulents In General
Cactus Flowers
The lifespan of a Cactus flower is quite short and some of the flowers only open at night. They are treasured and never forgotten by all those who see them because of their delightful colours and they will continue to produce new flowers during the Cacti's flowering phase and continue to dazzle people.
The Cactus Itself
The Cactus is a type of Succulent plant belonging to the plant family Cactaceae. The Cactaceae has between 24 and 220 genera which is comprised of close to 2000 species.
Cacti (Plural) are mostly known in the Americas and other places around the globe where they occur they have been introduced. They are a hardy plant and occur mainly in hot and dry conditions. Many of the Cactus species have spines on them. This is for protection against anything that wishes to eat them.
Cacti have been believed to evolve some 40 million years a go and are considered as new world plants. There are some Cactus species that occur naturally in parts of Africa and Asia, they are extremely rare. They are believed to be part of the Americas population. When all the continents drifted away from each other all those years a go (Continental drift) there must have been a few plants that traveled away from the Americas and landed up in Africa and Asia.
Like other species of Succulents, the Cactus has adapted well to a life without precipitation or very little of it. The leaves of the Cactus have evolved into spines to prevent water loss due to evapouration. Photosynthesis is carried out by enlarged stems. These stems also store the plants water. Unlike many other Succulents the stem is only apart of a true Cactus where this takes place.
When there are leaves present on a Cactus it is not long before they fall off. They are between 1 and 3 mm long. 2 Genera do have non-Succulent leaves whish range from 5 to 25 cm long. Cactus species and other Succulents are thought to evolve from these 2 genera.