Landscape Architects who are designing for arid climates or water conservation goals may want to consider the 15% of flowering plants which produce and store fructans.

Science News (February 4, 1995) reports that fructans production and storage in plants has been linked to higher survival rates under drought conditions. The chief researcher Elizabeth A.H. Pilon-Smits of the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands was quoted as saying "the first experimental data suggest[s] that accumulation of fructans in plants is effective as a device against water stress."

LASN will bring you more on this subject as it develops and list plants which produce and store fructans among the information listed On-Line.