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A biennial plant is a flowering plant that, generally in a temperate climate, takes two years to complete its biological life cycle.
Biennials do not always follow a strict two-year life cycle: most plants in the wild can take three or more years to mature. Rosette leaf size has been found to predict when a plant may enter its second stage of flowering and seed production. Alternatively, under extreme climatic conditions, a biennial plant may complete its life cycle rapidly (e.g., in three months instead of two years). This is quite common in vegetable or flower seedlings that were Vernalization before they were planted in the ground. This behavior leads to many normally biennial plants being treated as annuals in some areas. Conversely, an annual grown under extremely favorable conditions may have highly successful seed propagation, giving it the appearance of being biennial or perennial. Some short-lived perennials may appear to be biennial rather than perennial. True biennials flower only once, while many perennials will flower every year once mature.
Biennials grown for flowers, fruits, or seeds are grown for two years, whereas those grown for edible leaves or roots are harvested after one year—and are not kept a second year to run to seed.
Examples of biennial plants are members of the onion family including leek, some members of the cabbage family, common mullein, parsley, fennel, Lunaria, silverbeet, Rudbeckia hirta, sweet William, Aletris, carrot, and some . Plant breeders have produced annual cultivars of several biennials that will flower the first year from seed, for example, foxglove and Matthiola incana.
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