Biology of Australia
Notes on the Flora of Australia
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Succulents in Australia
There are very few succulents in Australia. Because Australia is a very dry continent it is often assumed it should be the home of succulents like the cacti. But Australia has a different type of arid country from elsewhere, here it is subject to long periods of drought with occasional rain, like other places such as Africa and the arid parts of the Americas, but unlike the other places, the rainfall in Australia is not regular. Succulents, like cacti, need to have a regular supply of water which they store in their tissues, so they live in places that are dry for most of the year, but gets torrential downpours for a short period in a regular wet season.
The few succulents in Australia, such as Tecticomia verrucosa, live on rocky substrates or saltpans where the water pools after even light rain.