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Succulents store water in two forms:

       Stem succulents

Here the stem is swollen with water inside a thick rubbery skin to prevent it being lost. To reduce the surface area from which water can be lost, there are no leaves. Therefore the stem is green to allow the plant to carry out photosynthesis. The barrel-shaped cacti often use their ridges to change shape; expanding and contracting as they store and use water, e.g. Trichocereus.

       Leaf succulents

Here the water is stored in thick, fleshy leaves with a rubbery skin. Some plants have no stem but gain height by adding leaves on top of each other. After a while the lower leaves fall off leaving the bases to become woody, e.g. Agave.

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