A plant with a deep root system that draws its water supply from near the water table.
- This and other species of Prosopis are considered as facultative phreatophytes, i.e. with roots that can take water from shallow and deep soil horizons.
- Diurnal water table fluctuations can be considered a diagnostic indicator of groundwater consumption by phreatophytes at most sites.
- Example sentences
- The growth and survival of this species rely on access to deep water tables such as those occurring on river banks (phreatophytic habit).
- We explored this biogeochemical transfer and its influence on soils in phreatophytic eucalypt plantations and native grasslands of the Pampas (Argentina).
1920s: from Greek phrear, phreat- 'a well' + -phyte.
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