Agave

Sunken stomates help the century plant endure drought. Water also evaporates through stomates but in the century plant and many others, stomates are placed in shallow pits that help cut down water evaporation by shielding the stomate from drying air currents.

Although the genus Agave is a large group of some 250-300 species that range across arid North America, Central America, and the Caribbean, just two species of agave occur in the desert regions of California. Many more agave species are found to the south in Baja California and southeast and east in other portions of the Sonoran Desert with biseasonal or summer rainfall regimes. Like the cacti, agave have succulent storage tissue and utilize Crassulacean acid metabolism. A difference between the groups, however, is that the leaves are the primary organs for water storage-although the fibrous leaf structure of agaves holds only moderate amounts of water compared to the succulent stems of most cacti. "California Desert Plants, Philip W Rundel, Robert J Gustafson, Micahel E Kauffmann."