Perennial

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Common chicory, Cichorium intybus, is a herbaceous perennial plant. Cykoria podroznik pokroj.jpg
Common chicory, Cichorium intybus , is a herbaceous perennial plant.

In horticulture, the term ( per- + -ennial , "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than two years. [1] [2] [ failed verification ] The term is also loosely used to distinguish plants with little or no woody growth (secondary growth in girth) from trees and shrubs, which are also technically perennials. [3] Notably, it is estimated that 94% of plant species fall under the category of perennials, underscoring the prevalence of plants with lifespans exceeding two years in the botanical world. [4]

Contents

Perennials (especially small flowering plants) that grow and bloom over the spring and summer, die back every autumn and winter, and then return in the spring from their rootstock or other overwintering structure, are known as herbaceous perennials. [5] However, depending on the rigours of the local climate (temperature, moisture, organic content in the soil, microorganisms), a plant that is a perennial in its native habitat, may be treated by a gardener as an annual and planted out every year, from seed, from cuttings, or from divisions. Tomato vines, for example, live several years in their natural tropical/ subtropical habitat but are grown as annuals in temperate regions because their above-ground biomass does not survive the winter.

There is also a class of evergreen perennials which lack woody stems, such as Bergenia which retain a mantle of leaves throughout the year. An intermediate class of plants is known as subshrubs, which retain a vestigial woody structure in winter, e.g. Penstemon .

The symbol for a perennial plant, based on Species Plantarum by Linnaeus, is Jupiter symbol.svg , which is also the astronomical symbol for the planet Jupiter. [6]

Life cycle and structure

Perennial plants can be short-lived (only a few years) or long-lived. They include a wide assortment of plant groups from non-flowering plants like ferns and liverworts to highly diverse flowering plants like orchids, grasses, and woody plants. Plants that flower and fruit only once and then die are termed monocarpic or semelparous; these species may live for many years before they flower. [7] For example, a century plant can live for 80 years and grow 30 meters tall before flowering and dying. [8] However, most perennials are polycarpic (or iteroparous), flowering over many seasons in their lifetime. [9] Perennials invest more resources than annuals into roots, crowns, and other structures that allow them to live from one year to the next. They often have a competitive advantage because they can commence their growth and leaf out earlier in the growing season, and can grow taller than annuals. In doing so they can better compete for space and collect more light. [10]

Perennials typically grow structures that allow them to adapt to living from one year to the next through a form of vegetative reproduction rather than seeding. These structures include bulbs, tubers, woody crowns, rhizomes, turions, woody stems, or crowns which allows them to survive periods of dormancy over cold or dry seasons; these structures typically store carbohydrates which are used once the dormancy period is over and new growth begins. [11] In climates that are warm all year long, perennials may grow continuously. [12] Annuals which complete their life cycle in one growing season, in contrast with perennials, produce seeds as the next generation and die; [13] the seeds may survive cold or dry periods or germinate soon after dispersal depending on the climate.

Some perennials retain their foliage year-round; these are evergreen perennials. Deciduous perennials shed all their leaves part of the year. [14] Deciduous perennials include herbaceous and woody plants; herbaceous plants have stems that lack hard, fibrous growth, while woody plants have stems with buds that survive above ground during dormancy. [15] Some perennials are semi-deciduous, meaning they lose some of their leaves in either winter or summer. [16] Deciduous perennials shed their leaves when growing conditions are no longer suitable for photosynthesis, such as when it is too cold or dry. In many parts of the world, seasonality is expressed as wet and dry periods rather than warm and cold periods, and deciduous perennials lose their leaves in the dry season. [17]

Some perennial plants are protected from wildfires because they have underground roots that produce adventitious shoots, bulbs, crowns, or stems; [18] other perennials like trees and shrubs may have thick cork layers that protect the stems. Herbaceous perennials from temperate and alpine regions of the world can tolerate the cold during winter.

Perennial plants may remain dormant for long periods and then recommence growth and reproduction when the environment is more suitable, while most annual plants complete their life cycle during one growing period, and biennials have two growing periods.

The meristem of perennial plants communicates with the hormones produced due to environmental situations (i.e., seasons), reproduction, and stage of development to begin and halt the ability to grow or flower. There is also a distinction between the ability to grow and the actual task of growth. For example, most trees regain the ability to grow during winter but do not initiate physical growth until the spring and summer months. The start of dormancy can be seen in perennial plants through withering flowers, loss of leaves on trees, and halting of reproduction in both flowering and budding plants. [19]

Perennial species may produce relatively large seeds that have the advantage of generating larger seedlings that can better compete with other plants. Perennials also produce seeds over many years.

An important aspect of cold acclimation is overexpression of DNA repair genes. [20] In Thinopyrum intermedium a perennial relative of common wheat Triticum aestivum , conditions of freezing stress were shown to be associated with large increases in expression of two DNA repair genes (one gene product a photolyase and the other, a protein involved in nucleotide excision repair). [20]

Cultivation

Perennials that are cultivated include: woody plants like fruit trees grown for their edible fruits; shrubs and trees grown as landscaping ornamentals; herbaceous food crops like asparagus, rhubarb, strawberries; and subtropical plants not hardy in colder areas such as tomatoes, eggplant, and coleus (which are treated as annuals in colder areas). [21] Perennials also include plants grown for their flowering and other ornamental value including bulbs (like tulips, narcissus, and gladiolus); lawn grass, and other groundcovers, (such as periwinkle [lower-alpha 1] and Dichondra). [25]

Each type of plant must be separated differently; for example, plants with fibrous root systems like daylilies, Siberian iris, or grasses can be pried apart with two garden forks inserted back to back, or cut by knives. However, plants such as bearded irises have a root system of rhizomes; these root systems should be planted with the top of the rhizome just above ground level, with leaves from the following year showing. The point of dividing perennials is to increase the amount of a single breed of plant in your garden. [26] In the United States more than 900 million dollars worth of potted herbaceous perennial plants were sold in 2019. [27]

Dahlia plants are tender perennials that originate from climates that are warm all year round and need special care to survive cold winters. RIMG0163uf.JPG
Dahlia plants are tender perennials that originate from climates that are warm all year round and need special care to survive cold winters.

Benefits in agriculture

Switchgrass is a deep-rooted perennial. These roots are more than 3 meters long. Switchgrass roots.jpg
Switchgrass is a deep-rooted perennial. These roots are more than 3 meters long.

Although most of humanity is fed by the re-sowing of the seeds of annual grain crops, (either naturally or by the manual efforts of humans), perennial crops provide numerous benefits. [28] Perennial plants often have deep, extensive root systems which can hold soil to prevent erosion, capture dissolved nitrogen before it can contaminate ground and surface water, and out-compete weeds (reducing the need for herbicides). These potential benefits of perennials have resulted in new attempts to increase the seed yield of perennial species, [29] which could result in the creation of new perennial grain crops. [30] Some examples of new perennial crops being developed are perennial rice and intermediate wheatgrass. A perennial rice developed in 2018, was reported in 2023, to have provided a similar yield to replanted annual rice when evaluated over eight consecutive harvests. [31]

Location

Perennial plants dominate many natural ecosystems on land and in fresh water, with only a very few (e.g. Zostera ) occurring in shallow sea water. Herbaceous perennial plants are particularly dominant in conditions too fire-prone for trees and shrubs, e.g., most plants on prairies and steppes are perennials; they are also dominant on tundra too cold for tree growth. Nearly all forest plants are perennials, including trees and shrubs.

Perennial plants are usually better long-term competitors, especially under stable, resource-poor conditions. This is due to the development of larger root systems which can access water and soil nutrients deeper in the soil and to earlier emergence in the spring. Annual plants have an advantage in disturbed environments because of their faster growth and reproduction rates. [32]

Types

List of perennials

Each section contains a short list of species related to that topic, these are an example as the true lists would fill several books.

Perennial flowers

Perennials grown for their decorative flowers include very many species and types. [34] Some examples include:

Perennial fruits

The majority of fruit bearing plants are perennial even in temperate climates. [35] Examples include:

Perennial herbs

Many herbs are perennial, [36] [37] including these examples:

Perennial vegetables

Many vegetable plants can grow as perennials in tropical climates, but die in cold weather. [38] Examples of some of the more completely perennial vegetables are:

Aquatic plants

Many aquatic plants are perennial even though many do not have woody tissue. Examples include:

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Some groundcovers, such as the periwinkle, ( Vinca major ), amongst others, are environmental weeds in some areas. They may be invasive in regions where are they are not native because their ability for rapid spread chokes out native plant species and alters habitats. For Vinca, areas affected include parts of Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the United States, especially coastal California. [22] [23] [24]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Biennial plant</span> Flowering plant that takes two years to complete its biological life cycle

A biennial plant is a flowering plant that, generally in a temperate climate, takes two years to complete its biological life cycle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shoot (botany)</span> Young stem or branch

In botany, a plant shoot consists of any plant stem together with its appendages like leaves, lateral buds, flowering stems, and flower buds. The new growth from seed germination that grows upward is a shoot where leaves will develop. In the spring, perennial plant shoots are the new growth that grows from the ground in herbaceous plants or the new stem or flower growth that grows on woody plants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shrub</span> Small- to medium-sized perennial wood plant

A shrub or bush is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple stems and shorter height, less than 6–10 m (20–33 ft) tall. Small shrubs, less than 2 m (6.6 ft) tall are sometimes termed as subshrubs. Many botanical groups have species that are shrubs, and others that are trees and herbaceous plants instead.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deciduous</span> Plants that shed leaves seasonally

In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, after flowering; and to the shedding of ripe fruit. The antonym of deciduous in the botanical sense is evergreen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Groundcover</span> Plant with low spreading growth

Groundcover or ground cover is any plant that grows low over an area of ground, which protects the topsoil from erosion and drought. In a terrestrial ecosystem, the ground cover forms the layer of vegetation below the shrub layer known as the herbaceous layer, and provides habitats and concealments for terrestrial fauna. The most widespread ground covers are grasses of various types.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ornamental plant</span> Plant that is grown for decorative purposes

Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that improve on the original species in qualities such as color, shape, scent, and long-lasting blooms. There are many examples of fine ornamental plants that can provide height, privacy, and beauty for any garden. These ornamental perennial plants have seeds that allow them to reproduce. One of the beauties of ornamental grasses is that they are very versatile and low maintenance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Herbaceous plant</span> Plant that has no persistent woody stem above ground

Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pruning</span> Selective removal of parts of a plant

Pruning is a horticultural, arboricultural, and silvicultural practice involving the selective removal of certain parts of a plant, such as branches, buds, or roots.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Subshrub</span> Short woody plant

A subshrub or undershrub is either a small shrub or a perennial that is largely herbaceous but slightly woody at the base. The term is often interchangeable with "bush".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flower garden</span> Garden where flowers are grown and displayed

A flower garden or floral garden is any garden or part of a garden where plants that flower are grown and displayed. This normally refers mostly to herbaceous plants, rather than flowering woody plants, which dominate in the shrubbery and woodland garden, although both these types may be part of the planting in any area of the garden.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ephemeral plant</span> A term used for plants with short life cycle

An ephemeral plant is a plant with a very short life cycle or very short period of active growth, often one that grows only during brief periods when conditions are favorable. Several types of ephemeral plants exist. The first, spring ephemeral, refers to plants that emerge quickly in the spring and die back to their underground parts after a short growth and reproduction phase. Desert ephemerals are plants which are adapted to take advantage of the short wet periods in arid climates. Mud-flat ephemerals take advantage of short periods of low water. In areas subjected to recurring human disturbance, such as plowing, weedy ephemerals are very short-lived plants whose entire life cycle takes less than a growing season. In each case, the species has a life cycle timed to exploit a short period when resources are freely available. An evergreen plant could be considered the opposite of an ephemeral plant.

This page provides a glossary of plant morphology. Botanists and other biologists who study plant morphology use a number of different terms to classify and identify plant organs and parts that can be observed using no more than a handheld magnifying lens. This page provides help in understanding the numerous other pages describing plants by their various taxa. The accompanying page—Plant morphology—provides an overview of the science of the external form of plants. There is also an alphabetical list: Glossary of botanical terms. In contrast, this page deals with botanical terms in a systematic manner, with some illustrations, and organized by plant anatomy and function in plant physiology.

Plant life-form schemes constitute a way of classifying plants alternatively to the ordinary species-genus-family scientific classification. In colloquial speech, plants may be classified as trees, shrubs, herbs, etc. The scientific use of life-form schemes emphasizes plant function in the ecosystem and that the same function or "adaptedness" to the environment may be achieved in a number of ways, i.e. plant species that are closely related phylogenetically may have widely different life-form, for example Adoxa moschatellina and Sambucus nigra are from the same family, but the former is a small herbaceous plant and the latter is a shrub or tree. Conversely, unrelated species may share a life-form through convergent evolution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woody plant</span> Plant that produces wood and has a hard stem

A woody plant is a plant that produces wood as its structural tissue and thus has a hard stem. In cold climates, woody plants further survive winter or dry season above ground, as opposed to herbaceous plants that die back to the ground until spring.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Winter rest</span> Annual state for some plants and animals

Winter rest is a state of reduced activity of plants and warm-blooded animals living in extratropical regions of the world during the more hostile environmental conditions of winter. In this state, they save energy during cold weather while they have limited access to food sources.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ornamental bulbous plant</span> Herbaceous perennials with underground storage parts grown for ornamental purposes

Ornamental bulbous plants, often called ornamental bulbs or just bulbs in gardening and horticulture, are herbaceous perennials grown for ornamental purposes, which have underground or near ground storage organs. Botanists distinguish between true bulbs, corms, rhizomes, stem tubers and tuberous roots, any of which may be termed "bulbs" in horticulture. Bulb species usually lose their upper parts during adverse conditions such as summer drought and heat or winter cold. The bulb's storage organs contain moisture and nutrients that are used to survive these adverse conditions in a dormant state. When conditions become favourable the reserves sustain a new growth cycle. In addition, bulbs permit vegetative or asexual multiplication in these species. Ornamental bulbs are used in parks and gardens and as cut flowers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Herb</span> Plant used for food, medicine or perfume

Herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal purposes, or for fragrances. Culinary use typically distinguishes herbs from spices. Herbs generally refers to the leafy green or flowering parts of a plant, while spices are usually dried and produced from other parts of the plant, including seeds, bark, roots and fruits.

<i>Scilla forbesii</i> Species of plant

Scilla forbesii, known as Forbes' glory-of-the-snow, is a bulbous perennial plant from west Turkey flowering in early spring. It is considered synonymous with Scilla siehei, known as Siehe's glory-of-the-snow, by some sources, although others distinguish them. It belongs to a group of Scilla species that were formerly put in a separate genus, Chionodoxa, and may now be treated as Scilla sect. Chionodoxa. After flowering, it goes into dormancy until the next spring. It seeds readily to form colonies.

<i>Dipogon lignosus</i> Species of legume

Dipogon lignosus, the okie bean, Cape sweet-pea, dolichos pea or mile-a-minute vine, is a species of flowering plant in the legume family, Fabaceae. It is the only species classified in the monotypic genus Dipogon which belongs to the subfamily Faboideae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Annual vs. perennial plant evolution</span>

Annuality and perenniality represent major life history strategies within plant lineages. These traits can shift from one to another over both macroevolutionary and microevolutionary timescales. While perenniality and annuality are often described as discrete either-or traits, they often occur in a continuous spectrum. The complex history of switches between annual and perennial habit involve both natural and artificial causes, and studies of this fluctuation have importance to sustainable agriculture.

References

  1. ↑ Brickell, Christopher; Royal Horticultural Society, eds. (1993). Encyclopedia of gardening (Reprint. with amendments ed.). London: Dorling Kindersley. p. 588. ISBN   978-0-86318-979-1. |name=RHS
  2. ↑ The Garden Helper. The Difference Between Annual Plants and Perennial Plants in the Garden. Retrieved on 2008-06-22.
  3. ↑ RHS A-Z encyclopedia of garden plants. United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley. 2008. p. 1136. ISBN   978-1405332965.
  4. ↑ Poppenwimer, Tyler; Mayrose, Itay; DeMalach, Niv (2023-11-08). "Revising the global biogeography of annual and perennial plants". Nature. 624 (7990): 109–114. arXiv: 2304.13101 . Bibcode:2023Natur.624..109P. doi:10.1038/s41586-023-06644-x. ISSN   1476-4687. PMC   10830411 . PMID   37938778. S2CID   260332117.
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  6. ↑ Stearn, William T. "Botanical Latin" (four editions, 1966-92)
  7. ↑ The Biology of Reproduction . Cambridge University Press; 10 October 2019. ISBN   978-1-108-49985-9. p. 77–.
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  10. ↑ John P. Vogel. Genetics and Genomics of Brachypodium . Springer; 17 February 2016. ISBN   978-3-319-26944-3. p. 315–.
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  19. ↑ Rohde, Antje; Bhalerao, Rishikesh P. (2007-05-01). "Plant dormancy in the perennial context". Trends in Plant Science. 12 (5): 217–223. Bibcode:2007TPS....12..217R. doi:10.1016/j.tplants.2007.03.012. ISSN   1360-1385. PMID   17416545.
  20. 1 2 Jaikumar NS, Dorn KM, Baas D, Wilke B, Kapp C, Snapp SS. Nucleic acid damage and DNA repair are affected by freezing stress in annual wheat (Triticum aestivum) and by plant age and freezing in its perennial relative (Thinopyrum intermedium). Am J Bot. 2020 Dec;107(12):1693-1709. doi : 10.1002/ajb2.1584. Epub 2020 Dec 19. PMID 33340368
  21. ↑ Janick, Jules (1986). Horticultural Science. W. H. Freeman. p. 44. ISBN   978-0-7167-1742-3.
  22. ↑ Cal-IPC (2017-03-20). "Vinca major Profile". California Invasive Plant Council. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  23. ↑ Cooperative Research Centre for Australian Weed Management (2008). CRC Weed management Guide: Periwinkle - Vinca major (PDF). Cooperative Research Centre for Australian Weed Management. ISBN   978-1-920932-71-8 . Retrieved 17 June 2021.
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  28. ↑ Glover et al. Future Farming: A return to roots? Retrieved on 2008-11-11.
  29. ↑ Moffat 1996 Retrieved on 2008-11-14
  30. ↑ Cox et al. 2000 Retrieved on 2008-11-14
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  33. ↑ The First-Time Gardener: Growing Plants and Flowers: All the Know-How You Need to Plant and Tend Outdoor Areas Using Eco-friendly Methods . Quarto Publishing Group USA; 2 February 2021. ISBN   978-0-7603-6874-9. p. 18–.
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  35. ↑ Nuffstetler, Erin. "Edible Perennials That Will Bear Year After Year". The Spruce. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
  36. ↑ Waddington, Elizabeth (14 May 2020). "35 Perennial Herbs To Plant Once & Enjoy For Years". Rural Sprout. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
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  38. ↑ "Perennial veg to grow". BBC Gardeners World Magazine. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
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