Plants can grow in a desert, but they need special ways to survive. Cacti have spreading roots that slurp up any rain as soon as it falls. Then they take great care of the water, storing it inside their juicy stems. It may have to last them weeks, months or even years.
Huge bunches of sweet, sticky dates dangle from palm trees, beside springs in the deserts of Africa and the Middle East. People have been picking the delicious fruit in these parts for more than 5,000 years.
Daisies, poppies and many other plants flower in the desert. The plants wither and die during the hot, dry months but their seeds survive in the ground. When it rains, they soon spring into action. They grew into new plants and cover the dry desert with a beautiful carpet of flowers within a few weeks.
- Desert plants save lives! Many thirsty travelers have sucked life-saving water from the juicy flesh of a cactus.
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