{"id":388,"date":"2025-10-24T05:28:59","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T10:28:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/?p=388"},"modified":"2025-10-24T05:28:59","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T10:28:59","slug":"what-is-a-succulent-anyway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/what-is-a-succulent-anyway\/","title":{"rendered":"What is a Succulent, Anyway?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/h2>\n

It\u2019s tricky to define a succulent in a single, all-purpose way. I know them when I see them, but I can\u2019t think of a definition that covers every case.<\/p>\n

The Tucson Cactus and Succulent Society has an online article by Mike Dimmitt:<\/p>\n

\n

The basic definition is simple. In general, the word \u201csucculent\u201d means juicy. A succulent plant is one that stores water in its tissues; hence it\u2019s juicy\u2026<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The Details<\/h3>\n

His definition is as good as any I\u2019ve found, and he adds useful nuance. \u201cHow juicy is juicy?\u201d Where can the water be stored\u2014roots, stems, leaves?<\/p>\n

He also points out that succulents are more than \u201cjuicy\u201d\u2014they use the stored water. They don\u2019t just store it; they actually draw on it during drought.<\/p>\n

For me, bulbs and tubers are succulents even though their storage organs are mostly for food. Many of these plants also store plenty of water.<\/p>\n

Bulbs remind me of another term: geophyte. I think geophytes are plants that spend part of the year underground and store food (and often water) in their storage organs. So, to me, bulbs are both succulents and geophytes.<\/p>\n

Additional Reading:\u00a0The ABCs of Succulents<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Puna <\/a>
Puna bonniae, Yavi <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Puna <\/a>
Puna clavaroides, geophyte <\/div> <\/div>
\"Zingiber <\/a>
Zingiber (ginger) rhizome, Francisco Alvarez Bao <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Kinphofia <\/a>
Kinphofia sp, Bart Wursten <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Sweet <\/a>
Sweet Potatoes, Wally Hartshorn <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Aloe <\/a>
Aloe mawii on Mt. Yoloko, Ton Rulkens <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Sansevieria <\/a>
Sansevieria masoniana <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Introduction It\u2019s tricky to define a succulent in a single, all-purpose way. I know them when I see them, but I can\u2019t think of a definition that covers every case. The Tucson Cactus and Succulent Society has an online article by Mike Dimmitt: The basic definition is simple. In general, the word \u201csucculent\u201d means juicy. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":392,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-succulents","tag-biology"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/sprouting-onion-theen-moy.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=388"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6982,"href":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388\/revisions\/6982"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}