User:JonRichfield/Ephemerophyte

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Ephemerophyte

The word "ephemerophyte" is widely, but not always consistently, used in the disciplines of botany and ecology. Literally it means a plant that passes in a day, though in practice of course the intended sense is a plant with a growing cycle, or even an existence,that lasts a very short time, possibly only weeks.

Related terms occur in similar senses, but some of them appear in translations that might best be interpreted and used with caution. Consider the word "ephemeroid" for example. It appears to be unusual in Western literature, but Second World ecological publications use it freely, possibly under the influence of The Great Soviet Encyclopedia^[1]. In its primary meaning the word is perfectly usable; it refers to herbaceous plants that, unlike true ephemerophytes, do not die at the end of the short, opportunistic growing season, but enter a dormant, usually subterranean, phase as bulbs, rhizomes, tubers, or the like. Unfortunately the published translation includes seeds in the list, but that would reduces the definition to an unrealistic degree of vagueness -- it would include all short-growing-season plants. part the translation reads: "a group of perennial herbaceous plants for which fall-winter-spring vegetation is common. During the dry season the plants remain dormant in the form of seeds,. The vegetative period of ephemeroids in arid zones (tulips, sedge, meadow grass) is two to eight months. Optimum growth occurs in the spring. Ephemeroids are important as pasturage in Middle Asia and Kazakhstan. The vegetative period of ephemeroids in the forest-steppe region (squill, buttercup anemone) is two months, lasting usually until the formation of leaves on trees. Flowering and fruit formation make up a large part of the vegetative period. Many species flower until the onset of leaf formation."

They include ephemer and ephemeroid^{[2] [3]}

Senses in which the term is used include:

• Ruderal
• Synanthrope