In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant that has leaves in all seasons. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage during the winter or dry season. There are many different kinds of evergreen plants, both trees and shrubs. Evergreens include:
- most species of conifers (e.g., hemlock, blue spruce, red cedar, and white/scots/jack pine)
- live oak, holly, and "ancient" gymnosperms such as cycads
- most angiosperms from frost-free climates, such as eucalypts and rainforest trees
The Latin binomial term sempervirens (literally, "always green") refers to the evergreen nature of the plant, for instance:-
- Acer sempervirens (a maple)
- Cupressus sempervirens (a cypress)
- Lonicera sempervirens (a honeysuckle)
- Sequoia sempervirens (a sequoia)
- Ulmus parvifolia 'Sempervirens' (an elm)
An additional special case exists in Welwitschia, an African gymnosperm plant that produces only two leaves which grow continuously throughout the plant's life but gradually wear away at the apex. Welwitschia can live for over 1000 years.
Leaf persistence in evergreen plants varies from a few months (with new leaves constantly being grown as old ones are shed) to several decades (over thirty years in the Great Basin Bristlecone Pine).
Read more about Evergreen: Reasons For Being Evergreen or Deciduous, Metaphorical Use
Famous quotes containing the word evergreen:
“The evergreen woods had a decidedly sweet and bracing fragrance; the air was a sort of diet-drink, and we walked on buoyantly in Indian file, stretching our legs.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Madam, a circulating library in a town is as an evergreen tree of diabolical knowledge; it blossoms through the year. And depend on it ... that they who are so fond of handling the leaves, will long for the fruit at last.”
—Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751–1816)
“We could not well camp higher, for want of fuel; and the trees here seemed so evergreen and sappy, that we almost doubted if they would acknowledge the influence of fire; but fire prevailed at last, and blazed here, too, like a good citizen of the world.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)