This article is about plants. For animals living in groundwater, see Phreatobite.
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A phreatophyte is a deep-rooted plant that obtains a significant portion of the water that it needs from the phreatic zone (zone of saturation) or the capillary fringe above the phreatic zone.
Phreatophytes are plants that are supplied with surface water and often have their roots constantly in touch with moisture. A phreatophyte is one that absorbs its water from a constant source on the ground. They can usually be found along streams where there is a steady flow of surface or groundwater in areas where the water table is near the surface.
Phreatophytes live in areas with standing or running water, in arid areas and along the riverbeds and areas, apparently dry, where the water table is very shallow and near the surface. These plants have very deep roots that are able to reach the water table. Phreatophytes are not only characteristic of arid or desert zones, but also of wetlands, floodplains, depressions that hold water and estuaries. In the wetlands, ecological classification does not provide a special classification, since in this case, most of the plants in the regions of high rainfall can deepen their roots to the top of the capillary fringe immediately above the water table, and function well as a phreatophyte. In this case they receive the label of mesophytic. Phreatophytic artificial extensions, manmade, are used as a method to purify greywater.
A phreatophyte is a deep-rooted plant that obtains a significant portion of the water that it needs from the phreatic zone (zone of saturation) or the...
enters the soil Phreatic – Term used in several scientific disciplines Phreatophyte – Type of plant Vadose zone – Unsaturated aquifer above the water table...
Chilopsis linearis subsp. arcuata. Nevada, California, Baja California. As a phreatophyte, it is well adapted to ephemeral desert washes and sandy streams. It...
inhospitable locations. Having a great need of water, it is mostly a phreatophyte that extracts the needed water from sources in or on the ground. Consequently...
ambitious restoration project are to control exotic plants, particularly the phreatophyte Saltcedar - Tamarix (primarily Tamarix ramosissima and Tamarix parviflora)...
and winter, provide food for various vertebrates. The Nyala tree is a phreatophyte – it indicates the presence of ground water. The wood of a nyala tree...
when English people are tutting, tsk-tsk). It is a dioecious, leafless, phreatophyte (meaning its roots penetrate deep down to water near the water table)...
braided streams are usually present and active during water flows. Phreatophytes (plants with long tap roots capable of reaching a deep water table)...
roots. Along with Banksia attenuata, Banksia menziesii is a facultative phreatophyte. The two species are less strictly tied to the water table and hence...
A. (August 1996). "Water Use by Tamarix ramosissima and Associated Phreatophytes in a Mojave Desert Floodplain". Ecological Applications. 6 (3): 888–898...
it is thought to obtain some water from dew. Studies indicate it is a Phreatophyte; having deep roots that tap into ground water supplies. It also participates...
thereby avoiding excessive water loss". There are also plants called phreatophytes which have adapted to the harsh desert conditions by developing extremely...
have died off. Along with B. menziesii, B. attenuata is a facultative phreatophyte. The two species are less strictly tied to the water table and hence...
"Seasonal water acquisition and redistribution in the Australian woody phreatophyte, Banksia prionotes". Annals of Botany. 85 (2): 215–24. doi:10.1006/anbo...
Meyboom, P. (1965). Three observations on streamflow depletion by phreatophytes. Journal of hydrology, 2, 248-261. Alexander, Richard B.; Boyer, Elizabeth...
freshwater gathers at the base of the dunes there are communities of Phreatophytes (plants that maintain constant contact with ground water) that create...
hazard when absorbed into the body) uses polluted effluents to irrigate phreatophytes. It becomes a system with a low operation cost and low maintenance,...
one or more deep taproots seeking the water table. It is an obligate phreatophyte, that is, it is reliant upon accessing groundwater for its survival;...
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