STEM HABITS 



35 



(d) Deciduons Trees and S/rmt^.— Woody plants that drop their 

 leaves at the beginning of a dry or a cold (physiologically dry) season 

 are said to be deciduous. Such plants, during the favorable seasons 

 are as well fitted for maximum efficiency in food manufacture as are 

 the tropical evergreens, while during the unfavorable seasons, they 

 are better protected than any of the evergreens except, perhaps, some 

 of the leafless ones. These of course are obvious advantages. On 

 the other hand deciduous trees and shrubs are at some disadvantage 



Fig. 12.— Lophoce reus sholtii, a leafless evergreen. Organ I'lpu Cactus National 



Monument, Arizona. 



in that they have to expend a lot of energy in constructing an entirely 

 new set of leaves at the beginning of each growing season, and, also, 

 in that they have absolutely no chance to manufacture any carbo- 

 hydrates diu-ing the unfavorable season even though there may occur 

 some very favorable days. 



(e) Evergreen Herbs.— There are various sorts of evergreen her- 

 baceous plants. Some, as the winter greens, have sclerophyllous 

 leaves while others, as hepatica and dandelion, have leaves that are 

 not protected by the sclerophyllous structure. There are also some 



