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27-480: See text Strelitzia / s t r ɛ ˈ l ɪ t s i ə / is a genus of five species of perennial plants , native to South Africa . It belongs to the plant family Strelitziaceae . A common name of the genus is bird of paradise flower/plant , because of a resemblance of its flowers to birds-of-paradise . In South Africa, it is commonly known as a crane flower . Two of the species, S. nicolai and S. reginae , are frequently grown as houseplants . It

54-443: A century plant can live for 80 years and grow 30 meters tall before flowering and dying. However, most perennials are polycarpic (or iteroparous ), flowering over many seasons in their lifetime. 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

81-940: A photolyase and the other, a protein involved in nucleotide excision repair ). 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). 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 and Dichondra ). 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

108-401: A few years. Others, such as Oldenburgia paradoxa live indefinitely (though is still vulnerable to external effects), rooted in rocky cracks. Small, low shrubs such as lavender , periwinkle , and thyme , and many shrub-like members of the family Ericaceae , such as cranberries and small species of Erica , are often classed as subshrubs. A chamaephyte, subshrub or dwarf-shrub is

135-621: A horizontal inflorescence emerging from a stout spathe . They are pollinated by sunbirds and blue-faced honeyeaters , which perch on and drink from the spathe. The weight of the bird when standing on the spathe opens it to release the pollen onto the bird's feet, which is then deposited on the next spathe it visits. Strelitzia species lack natural insect pollinators; in areas without sunbirds, plants in this genus generally need hand pollination to successfully set seed. Five species are recognised, although one— S. juncea —has been shown to be genetically nested within another, S. reginae . It

162-406: A plant that bears hibernating buds on persistent shoots near the ground – usually woody plants with perennating buds borne close to the ground, usually less than 25 centimetres (9.8 in) above the soil surface. The significance of the closeness to the ground is that the buds remain within the soil surface layer and are thus somewhat protected from various adverse external influences. Accordingly,

189-463: 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. In the United States more than 900 million dollars worth of potted herbaceous perennial plants were sold in 2019. Although most of humanity

216-479: 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

243-402: Is a tree of a typically smaller size than S. nicolai . The leaves are large, 30 to 200 cm (1 ft 0 in to 6 ft 7 in) long and 10 to 80 cm (3.9 in to 2 ft 7.5 in) broad, similar to a banana leaf in appearance, but with a longer petiole , and arranged strictly in two ranks to form a fan-like crown of evergreen foliage. The flowers are produced in

270-783: 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. Each section contains a short list of species related to that topic, these are an example as the true lists would fill several books. Perennials grown for their decorative flowers include very many species and types. Some examples include: The majority of fruit bearing plants are perennial even in temperate climates. Examples include: Many herbs are perennial, including these examples: Many vegetable plants can grow as perennials in tropical climates, but die in cold weather. Examples of some of

297-483: 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. 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

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324-560: Is often interchangeable with "bush". Because the criteria are matters of degree (normally of height) rather than of kind, the definition of a subshrub is not sharply distinguishable from that of a shrub ; examples of reasons for describing plants as subshrubs include ground-hugging stems or low growth habit. Subshrubs may be largely herbaceous though still classified as woody, with overwintering perennial woody growth much lower-growing than deciduous summer growth. Some plants described as subshrubs are only weakly woody and some persist for only

351-659: Is possibly a mutation that is in the process of speciating. Plants in the genus Strelitzia produce no wind-borne pollen , and have an OPALS allergy scale rating of 1, meaning a very low risk of causing allergic reaction. Strelitzia is also the name of the botanic journal of the Pretoria-based National Botanical Institute, which has since been converted into the South African National Biodiversity Institute ( SANBI ). The Strelitzia journal replaced Memoirs of

378-632: Is the floral emblem of the City of Los Angeles and is featured on the reverse of the South African 50-cent coin . The genus was named by Joseph Banks in honour of the British queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz . The species S. nicolai is the largest in the genus, reaching 10 m (33 ft) tall, with stately white and blue flowers; the other species typically reach 2.0 to 3.5 m (6 ft 7 in to 11 ft 6 in) tall, except S. caudata , which

405-429: 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. Some perennial plants are protected from wildfires because they have underground roots that produce adventitious shoots, bulbs, crowns , or stems ; other perennials like trees and shrubs may have thick cork layers that protect

432-475: The astronomical symbol for the planet Jupiter . 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. For example,

459-542: The Botanical Survey of South Africa and ' Annals of the Kirstenbosch Botanic Gardens . Perennial plant 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 . However, depending on the rigours of

486-446: 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. 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

513-510: The dormancy period is over and new growth begins. In climates that are warm all year long, perennials may grow continuously. Annuals which complete their life cycle in one growing season, in contrast with perennials, produce seeds as the next generation and die; 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

540-541: The growing season, and can grow taller than annuals. In doing so they can better compete for space and collect more light. 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

567-620: 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. Perennial species may produce relatively large seeds that have

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594-446: 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

621-406: The more completely perennial vegetables are: Many aquatic plants are perennial even though many do not have woody tissue. Examples include: Subshrub A subshrub ( Latin suffrutex ) or undershrub is either a small shrub (e.g. prostrate shrubs ) or a perennial that is largely herbaceous but slightly woody at the base (e.g. garden pink and florist's chrysanthemum ). The term

648-465: The seed yield of perennial species, which could result in the creation of new perennial grain crops. 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. Perennial plants dominate many natural ecosystems on land and in fresh water, with only

675-431: 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

702-405: 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 [REDACTED] , which is also

729-439: The year. 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. Some perennials are semi-deciduous, meaning they lose some of their leaves in either winter or summer. Deciduous perennials shed their leaves when growing conditions are no longer suitable for photosynthesis, such as when it

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