AMAZING Cacti and Succulents (World's Most Spectacular Plants episode 11 of 14)

the driest corners of the world may sometimes seem devoid of life an empty but the world's deserts are far from deserted even the driest places on earth can harbor plant life that is highly evolved and incredibly adapted to survive extreme drought these plants the world's cacti and succulents a masters of survival and can flourish where other plants cannot hope to grow the word cactus usually conjures up this image the Giants aguado cactus which can grow over 12 metres tall but there are at least 1,750 other species of cacti that come in all shapes and sizes including species that growers epiphytes and others that grow climbing in forests all species of cacti except one grow in the Americas the exception is the mistletoe cactus rhipsalis back sifri which grows across Africa and into sri lanka to survive in extremely dry environments cacti reduced their surface area to minimize water loss through evapotranspiration as such many cacti do not have leaves in the conventional sense instead their fleshy stems do the job of photosynthesis the stems are often swollen and store water efficiently by being so much more water efficient than regular plants helps cacti survive extreme drought they come in all shapes and sizes many a column shaped or barrel shaped or spherical cacti actively defend the precious waters which they store the many desert herbivores would love to make a meal of them many cacti as well as many other groups of succulents are defended with ferocious spines these spines can be extremely variable some are rigid and robust others are as fine as needles while yet others are woolly and irritant or hidden amongst wooly fibers some cacti are so heavily defended that it's hard to imagine any animal being able to overcome the spines not all cacti have ferocious spines some are spineless and others have soft spines this one is called the monkeys tail cactus and it spines or softest hair so you can stroke it just like you would a monkey's tail since desert environments often have few pollinators many cacti produce stunning flowers to attract the few insects that are present and they can come in every color of the rainbow a few cacti produce delicious edible fruit such as the dragon fruit which is cultivated across the tropics although cacti almost exclusively occur in the Americas they are currently similar but unrelated groups of plants that are also adapted to survive in dry conditions many such plants also have swollen stems that store water these succulent plants come in an even greater range of shapes colors and sizes than cacti some are intricate while others are enormous such as this euphorbia from Namibia which has evolved independently but long essentially the exact same lines as the saguaro cactus and has similarly large columns shaped stems and spikes many succulent plants have beautiful coloration often in delicate pastel shades and many also have colorful and interesting flowers for the same reason as cacti some have adapted to survive droughts in even more extreme ways than cacti the stone plant lithops evolved to be perfectly camouflaged like a stone to hide from sight rather than to defend itself with spines the resemblance to stones can be so accurate that it can be almost impossible to see this plant in the deserts of southern Africa where it grows the window plant Venice Terraria goes a step further and often grows underground except for the tops of it's chunky leaves that have transparent window like areas of clear tissue these windows allow light to pass through the leaf enabling photosynthesis out of harm's way below ground where it's cooler living Jules Titan ops Asst have really tough textured leaves that resemble limestone and can also be very difficult to spot in the wild they get their name for the exquisite flowers that they produce the ice plant chrysanthemum amazingly produces beads filled with fluid these exude salts and other chemicals but may reflect intense light and heat but ironically cause the plant to look as if it's covered in a frost of ice crystals aloes are a very diverse group of over 500 species of succulent plants that grow across Africa and the Arabian Peninsula while many hello's grow on the ground a few grow on spectacular stems and a related group called a Lloyd and dendron grows as trees these are known as quiver trees for the spongy tissue inside the tree can be hollowed out to make Quivers for holding arrows quiver trees have reflective bark an extremely drought resistant leathery leaves but if conditions get too dry the quiver tree has a trick up its sleeve it can amputate some of its branches enabling the tree to survive with a reduced number of leaves and so needing less water in arid parts of southern Madagascar hundreds of drought adapted plant species grow together to form unique spiny forests made up of ala whadya trees PACA podiums and Colin Cowie these stunning forests are surprisingly diverse in plant and animal life within this unique ecosystem are ancient bear bab trees that can be thousands of years old because they're so Hardy many captain succulents are easy to cultivate and horticulturalists have been growing them for hundreds of years hundreds of millions are sold every year across the world out of this vast quantity that is produced every now and then a mutant appears with unusual traits there are many rare mutant forms of cation culture and these can actually be some of the most highly treasured and highly valued of all this one here has developed this weird growth form where the head twists as the cats ice grows upwards and that has created this strange spiral pattern of growth other cacti no longer grow from a point but from along the line these so called cristae forms grow with these weird flanges these weird lobes that develop as the cactus grows and you can pop these in pots shape just like heads and the cactus then perfectly looks like a brain so you can freak people out with the brains shaped cactus other cats I have lost the ability to produce chlorophyll so that pigments that would normally be hidden behind the chlorophyll become visible most cacti and succulents have simple growing requirements they need well-drained sandy soil bright lights warm conditions and minimal water for many species you're much more likely to kill your plants by over watering it than under watering it so apply water carefully succulent plants in particular are often very easy to propagate many succulents are really easy to propagate many species actually have leaves that are naturally inclined to grow separately when detached so they make perfect plants to make cuttings from all you really need is the plant that you can make the cutting from just grab the base of the leaf and twist and gently move from side to side and pluck off the leaf as close to the base as possible getting as much at the base of the leaf as you can then put the leaf somewhere dry and allowed to dry out for about 48 hours this is really important because if you use that leaf straight away it'll often rot and die back so letting them kassover increases your success rate these ones here have already been left aside for 48 hours and are ready to use all you they need is a tray like this full of sand and grit rich substrate so it's really well-drained then put the cuttings on top of the substrate like that and then give them a spray then place the tray somewhere warm and sunny and spray it once a week or twice a week to keep this substrate moist but never saturated and wet which will cause rotting then in a few weeks the magic should start within a few months the cuttings have reduced roots and can be potted up individually through propagation stunning displays of cacti and succulents can be assembled and many species can even be grown outside during summer months in temperate countries so why not try growing cacti and succulents for yourself good luck and happy growing [Music] you

Channel: Redfern Natural History Productions

Views: 243,663

Keywords: worlds most spectacular plants, world's most spectacular flowers, world, world's, worlds, most, spectacular, flowers, flower, Stewart, McPherson, Stewart McPherson, orchid, Himalayas, cacti, cactus, succulent, succulent plant, succulent plants, plant, plants, lithops, pebble plant, living stone, living stone plant, aloe, aloes, cutting, cuttings, Pachypodium, spiny forest, spiny, forest, exotic, exotics, exotic plant, exotic plants, Euphorbia, Euphorbias, quiver tree, saguaro

Id: r9RL9ISACTs

Length: 10min 10sec (610 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 02 2019