Succulents: The Beginning

Hi! This is Really Succs, a podcast that gets real about succulents. I’m your host, Molly Grisham, and I am a self-proclaimed plant enthusiast.

I am so excited about embarking on this podcast with you. Right now, I’ve got what I’d call a mini-series of info ready for you. We’ll get together and get absolutely nerdy about succulents once a week on Wednesdays, until I’ve talked at you about all the different kinds of succulents. And there are literally thousands! So that could go on for quite some time. But I will promise to break them into groups that make sense, at least to me. After that….who knows? If you want more...I’m sure I can give it to you.

I’ve explained enough! It’s time to dive into a world that Really Succs.

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The glaring question here is obvious. What is a succulent?

To answer this question, let me take you on a journey involving a little bit of science, a little bit of history….but no math. Nobody wants math.

In botany, which is the scientific study of plants, succulents are plants with parts that are thickened, or fleshy, to retain water as a survival tactic in arid climates and conditions. However, this characteristic isn’t something that scientists typically use to classify plants, because most plant families contain some species of succulent!

The word “succulent” comes from the latin sucus, meaning sap or juice. How fitting for little plants with big, juicy leaves!

In fact, the water content of some species’ leaves can be in the range of 90-95%.

They are commonly found in arid climates, with high temperatures. Their adaptations mean they are drought resistant, and live with very little water. Another word for this is a Xerophyte...literally dry plant.

Science Alert!!

Characteristics of Succulents:

• Crassulacean Acid Metabolism (CAM), which minimized water loss

  • CAM photosynthesis, is an adaptation that has evolved in some plants to help in dry conditions. During the day, the plant photosynthesizes, but only exchanges gases (respires) at night. The stomata, which are like little breathing valves, stay closed during the day to help save moisture. At night, they open and collect CO2. The CO2 is stored as malic acid (acid metabolism) until the day, when it’s used during photosynthesis.

• Leaves are cylindrical/spherical, reduced, or even absent

• Reduction in the little stomata (plant mouths)

• Stems as main site for photosynthesis

• Compact, grown in columns or spherical, cushion-like

• Waxy, hairy, spiny outer surface that creates a humid microhabitat...so those hairs on your panda plant are actually making a tiny little humid rainforest on the leaves! And shade too

• Roots are shallow to take advantage of any rainfall, even heavy dew

• Fast would sealing and healing (callous)

• I just want to say this word….mucilaginous substances. Reminds me of both mucus and gelatinous, which gives you a pretty good idea. Think, aloe.

Where do we find succulents?

These plant babes are quite the diverse group, so it’s not surprising they are also well-traveled. You can find succulents on every continent besides Antarctica...but maybe we just haven’t looked hard enough yet!

Some of our most well-known kinds come from places like Mexico, Central America, and South Africa. Let’s just say their next vacation will likely be at an all-inclusive resort in the tropics.

We’ve talked a lot about how dry climates, and that might be conjuring up images of sand dunes, camels, not a drop of water for miles. But these are not great places for plants to grow that keep so low to the ground. They would get covered in the sand. Rather, they flourish in rocky, arid areas. Cliffsides, outcrops, this kind of thing. It’s not a stretch to see a li’l succulent living life on the edge of a rocky, Southern California landscape.

Our plant of the hour loves warm temperatures. In fact, since they store water in their fleshy parts, a freeze can be quite catastrophic! I once had a jade essentially explode when I didn’t bring it inside before a freeze. The stems and leaves broke apart in a mushy mess.

Many succulents love lots of sunlight. Me too. They can even change color with more sunlight. I only change to red, but they can be yellow, pink, purple, and more. This is called stressing, which sounds really negative, but definitely is as bad for the plants as it is for us.

Why are Succulents so popular?

It might seem like every insta-girl has a strategically placed shelf of succulents these days. What gives? Well I’m here to tell you that our fascination with succulents is nothing new.

Imagine, if you will, a pre-human earth. Originally, cacti only grew on what is now the American continents, and succulents were native to regions in northern Europe, the far east, and southern and eastern Africa.

As trade with the orient started to boom in the late 15th century, major expeditions launched in search of a western sea route to India. Obviously, there was a lack of understanding about the whole general shape and size of the planet. Anyway, Chris Columbus, forever stirring up controversy, stole some cacti and brought them back to Europe, where these strange, leafless and pointy looking things were presented to Queen Isabella. This is just one in a string of similar stories of famous explorers discovering and spreading succulents as they pillaged indigenous populations. Yes, history can truly ruin any topic.

Spanish missionaries, as well as the Dutch East India Company (another controversial group of folks) shipped many plants back to the Royal Botanical Gardens in Holland.

Much like roses and fruit trees, soon the more and more varieties were arriving in Europe and interest in collection and cultivation of these plants grew. The sheer diversity of succulents is staggering.

However, it’s just like Western Civ. class to rain on the parade, and the quest to find exotic, new succulents lead to the poaching and plundering of not only the peoples in these locales, but the natural habitats as well. Today, many cacti and succulents are endangered and vulnerable. Just to be clear, when I say “poaching”, what I mean is much like the poaching of animals...people taking the plants from their natural habitat with no regards to conservation efforts.

In recent years, efforts to conserve natural habits have made headway. Cacti in America, for example, are protected under the Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna.

Plus like….why poach these plants when they’re so easy to propagate?? All you need is a stem, leaf, sometimes a root and you can have endless plants. I will say that I may have poached a leaf from a commercial greenhouse in the past, though. I’ll leave you to judge.

The last, and probably biggest, reason why succulents are so en vogue is that they are just so easy to care for. They are truly a low-maintenance relationship. All they really want is some sun and water. In fact, if you bug them too much with your needy, finicky helicopter-parenting, you’re probably doing more harm than good. The most common issues are overwatering. They are quite happy by a window with good sunlight, and if things start to go south, then pluck off some leaves and start over.

Okay. I’m going to get decidedly nerdier in just a few moments here. You’ve been warned.

Potato potato tomato tomato….which are all in the same plant family, actually!

When we’re thinking of types of plants, it’s common to say that such and such are in the same family. But what does that mean?

So, speaking taxonomically (what nerds call their fancy naming system) a family of plants is the same as saying something like…..dogs and cats. The cat family, felidae, is everything we might consider a “cat.” But within it are house cats, lynx, as well as big, predatory cats. These categories are a genus. Narrowing down even further, we have species, like a lion, a tiger, or one of those plucky little Pallas cats that always look like a grumpy little old man.

To say that we’re talking about all members of a family - say, cats - is a huge subject. However, identifying a certain kind of cat and giving tips on taking care of it would be a bit daunting. For example, if I said to brush your cat’s fur to prevent mats every day and feed it kibble, you would not get very far if you had been seeking help taking care of a lion!

So, we will be focusing on succulent genera (posh plural of genus) because typically these are more similar and we can talk about them in a more all-encompassing way. However, if something (most likely random) about a particular family amuses me, I’ll probably mention it.

The genus will be a great place to step in identifying succulents, but there are definitely times when we’ll talk about particular species. Most people would be able to tell you what a species is...going back to our cat analogy, this would be like, a domestica cat.

Here I go mentioning something that I found amusing but has no relevance to plants:

The scientific name Felis catus was proposed by Carl Linnaeus in 1758 for domestic cats. He’s the guy that came up with this whole taxonomy naming system. Catus sounds like what I would think of if I was trying to make up my own latin words. Catus. Dogus. Podus Castus. Felis daemon was proposed by Konstantin Alekseevich Satunin for a black cat. Poor guy got a bad rap.

Anyway….you may be thinking...well, what about a himalayan or siamese cat? These are breeds, an even further distinction than species. By the way, I’m allergic to cats and all this cat talk is making me sneeze.

Breeds are what we call it when it’s a domestic animal, but in plants we have a couple different terms. Subspecies are geographically isolated from it’s relatives and so never interbreed. Varieties occur naturally, and cultivars are specifically bred to have desirable and unique traits.

Wow. That was a lot of info. Now that you’re acquainted with some background info on succulents, next week we will dive into the rainbow of succulents out there in the great, big world. But until then, this episode is over, and that…..Really Succs.