Deciduous and Evergreen

A deciduous plant loses its leaves at the end of the growing season.

Red Alder – photo courtesy William Follette

An evergreen plant retains its leaves throughout the year, and loses last year’s leaves after this year’s have grown in.

Huckleberry Oak – drawing © John Muir Laws

In PlantID.net, we offer a “Winter Leaves” search that finds trees and shrubs that either lose their leaves (deciduous) or keep their leaves (evergreen) over the winter.

Here are some other uses of deciduous:

· Summer deciduous – plants that lose their leaves in the summer, often to avoid drying out.

· Drought deciduous – plants that only lose their leaves when they are stressed for lack of water.

· Semi-deciduous – plants that lose their leaves at the same time they’re growing new ones.

Want more? See Wikipedia.

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