Exotic Plant

The process of reproduction outside a plant's normal habitat is often inhibited enough to prevent spreading. Once established in their adopted territory a rare plant may prove hardy to grow in that territory. The most important aspect of growing plants outside their territory is to know what particular needs the plant might crave in the new location, to provide those for it.

For instance plants that manufacture their food from water and air, have become adapted to utilise varying degrees of light, plants which normally grow in full sun may not be able to survive in much less than the maximum sun exposure.

Other plants which to protect themselves from their harsh environment grow partly hidden beneath the ground, such as lithops actually have translucent windows in their visible parts, the leaf tips, which allow light to penetrate their internal chlorophyll-bearing cells.

Exotic plants can't be expected to behave typically under rare conditions, the local competition for light, water and soil may prove severe for them to bypass successfully. The nature of the local competition which awaits an exotic plant is a powerful factor in determining the success or failure of the introduction of the rare plant into the new location.