Perennial plant

A perennial plant or perennial (Latin per, "through", annus, "year") is a plant that lives for more than two years. This term is usually applied to herbaceous plants or small shrubs rather than large shrubs or trees, but used strictly it also applies to the larger and longer-lived species.

Some perennials, especially small flowering plants, grow and bloom over the spring and summer and then die back every winter. However, they grow back in the spring from their root-stock[?] rather than seeding themselves as an annual does. These are known as herbaceous perennials[?].

Perennials that do not die back to the ground (ie.trees and shrubs) are known as woody perennials[?].

See also biennial, annual.

REFERENCE

• http://www.orst.edu/extension/mg/botany/cycles