Plant types

I thought this might be helpful for beginners. Taken from one of my old gardening encyclopedia's.

Plant types

Annual.........................Plant that completes it's lifecycle in a single
year.

Biennial........................Plant that completes it's lifecycle in two years.

Climber.........................Plant that has developed adaptations that
enable it to climb, such as tendrils, stem roots,
self-clinging pads or long flexible stems.

Deciduous.....................Plant that sheds it's foliage annually.

Evergreen.....................Perennial plant that remains green throughout
the year.

Herbaceous...................Any plant that does not form a persistent woody
stem. Botanically, this includes annuals and
bulbs, but in general usage the term commonly
refers to perennial plants that die back in
autumn and resprout again in spring.

Perennial......................Plant that lives for three years or more.

Semi-evergreen.............Plant that annually sheds some but not all of
it's leaves.

Shrub..........................Woody plant that produces several stems from
it's base.

Tree............................Woody plant with a single stem supporting a
branching head.

 

Should make a sticky of that and put it in the ID section.

 

Thanks for that post, really useful for people like me

 

Pretty good Sheal but he's a few points for you

Ephemeral - A plant which completes it's life cycle in less than a year (usually a couple of months)

There's no specific difference between a tree and a shrub.... if you cut down some tree's don't they produce many stems from there base? even though it looks like a shrub now, it's still a a tree:WINK1:

it's also worth pointing out that there are many annuals which we grow in the UK which are happily perennial in better climates

 

Some biennials can be tricked into living longer than 2 years.

This one confuses me, simply because some herbs are not herbaceous.

These two could start a debate that would go on forever. I've seen it happen. Its like, what's the difference between a bush and a shrub? And when does a shrub become a tree?

Different text books give different definitions. Some say a shrub becomes a tree when it gets to a certain size, but what size? and what is bonsai? Some say as your book says that a shrub has more than one main stem, but I've seen some massive and ancient trees that fork at ground level. At 50ft plus in height and trunks with a girth of several feet each I'm not sure they'd suit the title of shrub

One of my books defines the Hawthorn as a large shrub, then later in the same book refers to it as a small tree.

Its all fascinating but those plants keep breaking the rules.

 

Okay all! Yes I know there are a few entries there that cause discussion, but I reiterate what I said at the top of the posting, it was taken and quoted from a gardening encyclopedia. I thought it was a good idea for complete beginners, which is why I posted the thread here.

Complete beginners won't want to be 'bogged' down at this point with all the side issues the post has now raised. Those questions can be raised by them here on GC when necessary.

Cant do right for doing wrong sometimes!

 

Sheal posted this "For Beginners" not calloused handed knobly kneed old pro's :-)

Jack McH

 

Well that categorises a lot of my plants :D