All you need to know about: Ephymeral Plant life cycles
Ephemeral means transitory or existing only briefly. As the name suggests ephemeral plants have a very short life cycle. There are 3 main types of e[phemeral life cycle:
- 1. Desert ephemeral - these plants take advantage of sudden rainfall or seasonal flooding to germinate, flower reproduce and seed in a very short timeframe - a good example is a desert sand verbena that grows in California
- 2. weedy ephemeral - Chickweed(left) is a weedy ephemeral that can complete its life cycle in as little as 5-6 weeks
- 3. spring ephemeral - Spring ephemerals like wood anemones have to grow and reproduce very fast in the short bit of time in a woodland before the canopy of leaves cuts out the light and they die away. The plant dies back into the ground and does not reemerge until the next spring when it can grow again.