X is for Xerophyte

Not many choices for X

Yes, the letter X was going to be a challenging post for sure.   For quite a few of these posts, I found help by going to my keywords in Lightroom.   I figured, type in the letter, find the keywords that matched to help inspire some ideas, with some images to go along with it.   No such luck with this letter.  No keywords that started with ‘X’.

Next step, since Scrabble rules aren’t in play here, the trusty dictionary.   I have a rather old one from 1988, but hey, the English language was still pretty well developed by then, it should have some options.   A whopping 16 total entries for ‘X’!

While xenophobia is an easy choice and is quite relevant these days with the politics in the US, it was really outside the theme and scope of this site.  🙂  But wait, one of those 16 words seemed to be a bit nature related!

Joshua Trees are classic examples of xerophytes. Joshua Tree National Park c.2004

“A plant that grows in and is adapted to an environment deficient in moisture.”    Hey, this shows some promise.   I wonder if I have any pictures of said plants?  To Wikipedia I go to learn more about these xerophytes!   Well, whaddaya know – the first picture that comes up is of Joshua Trees.  I think – “Hey, I’ve been there!”   One of the photographs that immediately came to mind was one that the Sierra Club purchased for their notecards back in 2004.

So there you go, Joshua Trees are examples of xerophytes.   And, as it turns out, we happen to have plenty of xerophytes around the house in the form of succulants.    So, I didn’t actually have to dig so deep into the X-Files to find some obscure thing to post about.  It turns out I had it right in my archives, right in my house, and picked up a new keyword along the way.

The letter X keyword vacancy has been filled.