Student Article
Ten Remarkable Desert Plants That Survive in the Harshest Places on Earth
Resilient (adjective): Able to withstand difficult conditions.
Ecosystem (noun): A community of living organisms and their environment.
Deserts are often seen as barren wastelands, but they’re home to some of the planet’s most remarkable and resilient plants. From the cold Antarctic Peninsula to the searing heat of the Sahara and Mojave, desert plants display astounding adaptations that enable them to survive where few others can.
From spiky to sweet: meet the desert stars
Among the most iconic is the Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia), a species native to the southwestern United States. Reaching heights of 50 feet (15 meters) and living for centuries, these trees rely on a unique partnership with the yucca moth for pollination. Then there's the prickly pear cactus. Though invasive in parts of Australia, it thrives in arid regions with its thick pads that store water and its sweet, edible fruit.
Smart ways to get water
In South America’s fog-fed deserts, the tara tree captures airborne moisture to irrigate its surroundings. Similarly, the saxaul tree in Central Asia stores water in its sponge-like bark, making it a crucial survival resource in the Gobi Desert. The western juniper uses a more destructive strategy: cutting off water to its own branches during droughts to preserve the rest of the tree.
A tree that clones?
Laperinne’s olive tree, growing in the Saharan highlands, reproduces through cloning, a strategy that helps in extreme conditions but limits genetic diversity.
Even cold deserts have plant life
Some desert plants can live without rain at all. In Antarctica, the Antarctic pearlwort survives by relying on wind for pollination and meltwater for nourishment.
Helping people and animals
The date palm, cultivated for over 8,000 years, provides both food and shade in Middle Eastern and North African deserts and is vital to regional ecosystems. Welwitschia, an ancient plant found in the Namib Desert, lives for over 2,000 years and absorbs fog and groundwater through just two continuously growing leaves. It provides food and moisture to animals like oryx and zebras.
These 10 species show how life can adapt, persist, and even flourish in the harshest environments on Earth — offering both ecological insights and essential services to the animals and people that depend on them.
© Jo Caird / Our Media
Resilient (adjective): Able to withstand difficult conditions.
Ecosystem (noun): A community of living organisms and their environment.