Behavior of Woody Desert Legumes at the Wilting Percentage of the Soil

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Abstract
The wilting % of the soil has essentially the same significance in the water relations of Prosopis velutina, Acacia farnesiana, and Lysiloma thornberi as in wheat. In contrast to wheat, attainment of the wilting % in the legumes is not marked by a wilting of the leaf blades. However, the attainment of the wilting point brings about these changes in the legumes (a) an essentially concomitant increase in the rate of abscission, (b) deviation from the normal diurnal positions of the pinnules, (c) cessation of shoot elongation, and (d) sharp decrease in the transpiration rate. Apparently the growth and transpiration rates of the legumes continue at approx. normal levels as long as the soil contains any water in excess of the wilting %. As long as the roots of the legumes have access to growth-water, their transpiration rates appear to be closely related to the strength of illumination and to be unrelated to variations in the evaporative power of the air, so long as the latter is not likewise controlled principally by insolation.

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