Simply Succulent

Easy going and compact, succulents are perfect companions growing indoors now, and outdoors in summer. Carol Klein reveals some of her favourite varieties - and why she wouldn't be without them for year-round interest

- By Carol Klein. Photographs Jason Ingram

All plants have evolved within their environment to ensure their survival. In some parts of the world, plants have to cope with arid conditions, often not just dry but hot too. One of the adaptations plants use is to store water in their leaves. They go by the name of succulents from the Latin sucus, meaning sap or juice.

Succulents belong to many different plant families but share the common device of using their leaves and, in some cases, their stems as reservoirs so that in times of drought they remain turgid and can survive. Most cacti don't have leaves and it is their stems which act as reservoirs/water storage tanks. Remember, all cacti are succulents, but not all succulents are cacti!

Many succulents have a thick, waxy skin protecting the leaves from searing sun. And those leaves are often thick and fleshy because of the water-storing tissues within them. Waxy, hairy and spiny surfaces can create micro-climates around the leaves giving protection and reducing water loss. As a rule, succulents have fine, superficial roots evolved to collect any water around from showers to mist to dew. Some succulents have been known to survive for more than two years without any rain.

Although most originate in dry places, they tend to grow in communities, as desert sandstorms would quickly obliterate their seedlings or even the parent plants since they lack woody structures.

Carol's 10 star succulents

1 Kleinia stapeliiformis

Pickle plant or candlestick plant are other names. The flowers are big and a bit like hawkweed, to which it is distantly related, being in the daisy family. It spreads underground, throwing up new stems.