Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Of or relating to any of the structural adaptations characteristic of xerophytes, such as water-storing stems or leaves.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective biology of, relating to, or characteristic of the
xerophytes , especially having the ability to store water in leaves and stems
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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In needles from mature subarctic Scots pine, enhanced UV-B radiation levels induced xeromorphic (change in plant anatomy to enhance drought resistance) characteristics, including smaller epidermal area and enhanced development of the cuticle layer [29].
Effects of ultraviolet-B on forest vegetation in the Arctic 2009
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Much of this humid rain forest ecoregion has a high canopy (30 to 40 meters (m), with emergents to 50 m), but the region is broken by low canopy (less than 20 m) summer-dry forest with mesophyllous, semidecidous, and xeromorphic elements, and some open campos, or meadows;.
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Species in the latter two biomes show xeromorphic adaptations to extreme high altitude conditions.
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The terrestrial vegetation contains 16 of the 28 plant formations for Cuba, including low-altitude, submontane and montane rainforest, cloud forest, xeromorphic sub-thorny shrub, pine forests, semi-deciduous forest, riverine forest, and mangrove forest.
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All of the plant species found in the Afroalpine zone show xeromorphic characteristics designed to reduce transpiration.
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Similarly, the genus Dracaena contains xeromorphic species distributed in the Macaronesian islands, Madagascar, and along the African coast from southern Africa into Arabia.
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These include xeromorphic open vegetation with shrubs and trees to 5 m; low forest (7 to 8 m); closed-canopy medium forest with a canopy from 15 to 22 m high; and savanna vegetation.
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For this reason there is a wide range of vegetation types, including their successive phases, ranging from aquatic vegetation to xeromorphic vegetation typical of semi-desert areas.
Cuban wetlands 2007
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Scrub is often defined botanically as a xeromorphic shrub community dominated by a layer of evergreen or nearly evergreen oaks (Quercus geminata, Q. myrtifolia, Q. inopina, Q. chapmanii) or Florida rosemary (Ceratiola ericoides) or both, in the presence or absence of an overstory of sand pine (Pinus clausa) occupying well-drained, infertile, sandy soils.
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