Labels:text | font | screenshot | black and white | white OCR: Photosynthesis needs the plant to take in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, but in order to do this, the plant has to have tiny pores called stomata in its leaves or stem. But these tiny holes also allow moisture to escape from the plant. Desert plants cope with this problem in several ways. Most desert plants have less stomata than non-desert plants, and they also often have a reduced surface area. Whereas an oak tree has a vast surface area in the form of thousands of leaves, a cactus plant has no leaves at all and can be almost spherical in shape.