The most extreme environments on the planet call for some of the most amazing adaptations in the plant world. From the frozen deserts of the polar regions to the scorching sandscapes of Africa, we’re learning ever more about the wonders of desert plant species both tiny and huge, short-lived and slow-growing, widespread and vanishingly rare.
How do desert plants survive?
Various coping mechanisms are used. Acacia trees have long roots that can tap water sources deep below ground, while cacti spread their roots horizontally rather than vertically to mop up rainwater from a wide area.
Other species can endure for years as dormant seeds, germinating only after rainfall and completing their life-cycle very quickly before the drought resumes.
Find out about how some of these plants have been harnessed by the human communities eeking out a living in these challenging environments, and how others are considered downright pests.
What plants live in the desert?
Here’s our list of the 10 most amazing desert plants in the world.
Joshua tree
The Yucca brevifolia, also known as the yucca palm or tree yucca, is native and exclusive to the Mojave Desert of the southwestern United States, where it has a national park named after it.
The Joshua Tree National Park is full of these distinctive plants, which can grow to around 15m tall and live for several hundred years. Their name is thought to come from Mormon settlers to the United States and is a reference to the bible story of Joshua – though the details are lost.
Joshua trees bloom between February and April, their flowers fertilised by the Yucca moth, whose larvae feed on the seeds of the plant.
Date palm
The archaeological record shows that humans have been cultivating date palms in the Middle East as far back as 6,000BC, with dates eaten raw and used as an ingredient in a wide range of sweet and savoury dishes throughout the Arab world. This long history of cultivation makes it hard to know exactly where the plant originated, with some suggesting Egypt and Mesopotamia, some the Persian Gulf and some the Indian subcontinent. In any case, it’s certainly a very ancient plant, dating back at least 50 million years.
Date palms are slow growing and can reach an age of around 100 years old if maintained (though, as with other palm trees, they do not produce tree rings, so it’s impossible to age them without carbon dating). While commercially grown date palms are pollinated by hand, the plant is wind-pollinated in the wild, its fruit consumed by all manner of species including birds, insects and mammals.
Prickly pear cactus
Native to the deserts of the Americas, prickly pear cactuses (there are dozens of species) can now be found all over the world. They’re considered an invasive species in some places in fact, including Australia, where it is “acknowledged as one of the greatest biological invasions of modern times”, according to the government of the state of Queensland.
That thorny issue notwithstanding, the prickly pear cactus is an amazing plant, able to grow up to 7m tall with a crown 3m across, and cultivated for its very sweet, creamy fruit (also known as prickly pears), as well as its nopals (pads). A common ingredient in Mexican cuisine, these are sold fresh, bottled, canned or dried and can be eaten raw or cooked.
Tumbleweed
Not just one species but a seed dispersal mechanism for a number of different plants, the tumbleweed is an iconic symbol of the deserts of American Wild West, thanks to its appearance in many Hollywood Westerns. But while linked to the US in the popular imagination, tumbleweeds are actually found in deserts all over the world.
The tumbleweed is what’s known as a diaspore, a part of the plant (in some cases the entirety of the plant apart from the room system) that detaches when mature and dry and is blown by the wind. Some drop seeds or spores on their way while others germinate after the tumbleweed has come to rest.
Tumbleweed can present a serious challenge in many places, with huge quantities of plant material blocking roads and even covering buildings. They can also increase the risks of wildfire, with highly flammable tumbleweeds rolling across fire breaks.
Laperinne’s olive tree
We associate olive trees with the Mediterranean, a place whose hot, dry summers are balanced by mild, wet winters. Much less well known is Laperinne’s olive tree, a non-cultivated subspecies of the tree hardy enough to withstand life in the Sahara Desert.
Found at altitudes of between 1,400m and 2,800m in an area of the desert spanning southern Algeria, Niger and northern Sudan, it is able to survive in this intensely arid environment by using vegetative reproduction, a form of self-cloning, rather than through dispersal of seeds. While effective as an adaptive strategy, this mechanism has its downsides, resulting in reduced genetic diversity, a worry for the long-term future of the species given the stresses associated with global heating.
Tara tree
There’s barely any rainfall to speak of in the Pacific coastal deserts of Chile and Peru, yet these landscapes host areas of vegetation rich enough to support human settlements. Known as lomas, they’re there thanks to fog oases, areas of moisture covering an estimated 17,000 km2 that are created by cold air blowing in from the Pacific Ocean.
Crucial to these oases are native trees including the tara tree. The tallest of the lomas vegetation, their leafy branches capture the fog through the formation of tiny water droplets before it evaporates or drifts away. The water then drips down the tree and into the surrounding soil, providing vital hydration for other plants.
Deforestation and overgrazing has significantly reduced the number of tara trees, threatening the entire lomas ecosystem, which is unable to capture the fog without them. Researchers have been attempting to reintroduce taras, but with mixed results thanks to a shortage of water and difficulties getting their seeds to germinate. While in Inca times, it is thought that llamas and alpacas ate the seeds, softening their hard outer shells before excreting them, today’s livestock – cattle, sheep and goat – are not interested in them.
Antarctic pearlwort
There are only two vascular plants (those that conduct water and minerals through lignified structures) native to Antarctic, and this pretty, yellow-flowering moss-like species is one of them (the other is Antarctic hair grass). Both are found in the coastal region of the Antarctic Peninsula, favouring rocky landscapes. Without insects or other pollinators to rely on, pollination of both species is by wind alone. Self-pollination means that it’s not a problem that individual plants might be very widely spaced in this inhospitable environment.
As well as these vascular plants, there are several hundred species of moss and lichens that grow in Antarctica, the only remnants of the vast forests that covered this area tens of millions of years ago. All these plants have evolved to survive purely on meltwater since there’s no precipitation in continental Antarctica, with mosses able to desiccate for most of the year, then rehydrate for the 20 to 105 days a year when it’s warm enough for melting to occur.
Western juniper
In periods of drought or other environmental stress, deciduous plants are able to prematurely drop their leaves in order to safeguard the rest of their structures (an event we saw in the UK during the extended summer heatwave of 2022). Western juniper trees, native to the American southwest and found at elevations from sea level up to 3,000m, go one better: by cutting off water to a major limb, the tree can kill a branch in the hope of giving the rest of the tree a better chance of survival. Another clever adaptation of this widespread species are its leaves, which resemble waxy scales covering the tree’s twigs and small branches.
Saxaul
If you run out of water in the Gobi desert you could do far worse than finding yourself a saxaul tree, a plant with bark so spongey that water can be squeezed out of it. This water-storing adaptation means that the saxaul can survive in environments too harsh for most other plants.
As the Gobi’s only tree, the saxaul is an important source of wood for nomadic peoples, who use it for heating and cooking. It’s also key forage for species including the wild Bactrian camel and the ibex, with saxaul sparrows feeding on its seeds.
Welwitschia
These strange desert plants, which are endemic to the Namib Desert of Namibia and southwestern Angola, produce only two leaves in their lifetime. These strap-like structures grow along the ground, becoming split into many thinner segments over the course of the plant’s long life (carbon dating has found some individual plants living to over 2,000 years old) so that they resemble multiple leaves.
Welwitschia, which grows up to 1m tall but spreads out across the surrounding ground, survive in the arid conditions of the Namib by absorbing water from fog, as well as tapping deep sources of groundwater. This water-holding ability makes it a vital source of hydration for desert species including oryx, zebra and black rhinoceros, which feed on its leaves. Its seed cones, meanwhile, are eaten raw, toasted and baked by the Damara and Herero peoples of Namibia.
Learn about desert animals