Annual plant
In botany, annual or (summer) annual plants (Latin annus 'year') are herbaceous plants that only have one growing season from the germination of the seed through the development of the entire plant, the formation of the flower and fertilization to the fruit ripening of the new seed need and die (dry up or rot) after the seed has matured in the same growing season, although this growing season can be limited by both the onset of frost and drought.
Horticultural definition
From a horticultural perspective and in the narrower sense, annual plants are short-lived plants that only bloom for one summer and die after seed formation. This means they differ significantly from biennial and perennial plants. Typical annuals include:
- Nasturtium
- Marigold
- Maiden in the countryside
- hemp
- Corn (Kukuruz)
Plants that are perennial in their home country, but do not survive the winter in temperate latitudes due to the climate (frost), are also called annuals or, more horticulturally correct, annuals. These include, for example, the cultural forms of the Tagetes.
Annual or (summer) annual generally describes the flowering behavior of plants that bloom in the same growing period (examples: lettuce, all summer flowers). When sowing or planting in spring, this usually means flowering and seed ripening in summer and autumn. As the seeds ripen, the plant becomes exhausted and dies. A stock of (predominantly) annual plants is therefore referred to as an annual field.
Differentiation from two- and multi-year-olds
Biennial or winter annual plants, on the other hand, need an interim cold stimulus in order to flower. They therefore usually only bloom in the following spring and the seeds ripen again in the summer. Examples of this are numerous vegetables such as leeks or cabbage; These plants also die when the seeds ripen.
Finally, when it comes to “perennial” plants, a distinction must be made as to whether this term is used in a strictly botanical or horticultural sense: Perennial plants in the botanical sense die after several years of growth, sometimes decades, completed by a single flower formation and seed ripening, as well as the annual and biennials completely, but perennial plants in the horticultural sense do not necessarily do so: although they also need a cold stimulus to form flowers, they may remain alive after flowering and seed ripening (for which the term “perennial” is used in botany).
A further characteristic of perennial plants is that a distinction is made between woody perennials and (non-woody) herbaceous perennials, while annuals and biennials never become woody.
Source: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einj%C3%A4hrige_Pflanze
