Discover the ingenious water-conserving features of desert plants, like waxy coatings on leaves to minimize moisture loss.
How do waxy leaves help desert plants?
Leaves and stems of many desert plants have a thick, waxy covering, keeping the plants cooler and reducing evaporative loss. Some plants, such as Ephedra (Mormon tea) and cacti, carry out most or all of their photosynthesis in their green stems.