Describe and explain three adaptations of succulent plants that allow them to live in hot and dry conditions.

There are many to choose from here but we'll take the two most important. Many succulents such as cacti have needles instead of leaves. This reduces the amount of water lost via transpiration meaning that the plant can survive for longer periods between rainfall. Succulents also generally have shallow and widespread roots. Since rainfall is infrequent in desert climates, when it does rain the water doesn't travel far down in the soil but stays mostly near the surface before it either evaporates or is absorbed by plants. This means that when rainfall does occur the plant will absorb as much of it as possible whilst also having a root system that is energy efficient. Lastly, succulents have large vacuoles (structures/organelles within the cell body that store nutrients, water, salts) that can swell up a lot, giving ample storage space for large amounts of water allowing the plant to survive for longer between rainfall.