Special SUCCULENTS

A love of plants is so often sparked in childhood, and for Daniel Jackson it was no different. ‘I was 10 years old when I got my first succulent,’ he recalls. ‘It was a present from my mum. I’ve still got it and, to this day, many other cacti specialists have not been able to identify it.’ His experience highlights a lack of awareness about the many species in this fascinating family. ‘All too often, anything with fleshy leaves is dismissed as a succulent and, if it’s prickly, it must be a cactus,’ he adds.

What are succulents?

Succulents are plants that store water in their tissues, developing thick fleshy leaves that, if cut open, have a juiciness akin to grapes. Cacti are a type of succulent, differentiated by the swollen stems that store water, while the leaves are in the form of spines, so heavily modified as to be unrecognisable. Many succulents originate from inhospitable areas with a low rainfall, having adapted to the conditions by growing slowly and conserving sufficient moisture – in either fleshy