Monocarpic plants are those that flower and set seeds only once, and then die. The term is derived from Greek (''mono'', "single" + ''karpos'', "fruit" or "grain"), and was first used by Alphonse de Candolle. Other terms with the same meaning are '' hapaxanth'' and '' semelparous''. The antonym is polycarpic, a plant that flowers and sets seeds many times during its lifetime; the antonym of semelparous is '' iteroparous''. Plants which flower en masse (gregariously) before dying are known as

plietesials Plietesials are plants that grow for a number of years, flower gregariously (synchronously), set seed and then die. The length of the cycle can vary between 8 and 16 years. For example, the neelakurinji plant flowers every 12 years and bloomed ...

. The term ''hapaxanth'' is most often in conjunction with describing some of the taxa of

Arecaceae The Arecaceae is a family of perennial flowering plants in the monocot order Arecales. Their growth form can be climbers, shrubs, tree-like and stemless plants, all commonly known as palms. Those having a tree-like form are called palm trees ...

(palms) and some species of bamboo, but rarely used otherwise; its antonym is ''pleonanth''. This was first used by Alexander Braun. Monocarpic plants are not necessarily annuals, because some monocarpic plants can live a number of years before they will flower. In some monocarpic plants, flowering signals

senescence Senescence () or biological aging is the gradual deterioration of functional characteristics in living organisms. The word ''senescence'' can refer to either cellular senescence or to senescence of the whole organism. Organismal senescence inv ...

, while in others the production of fruits and seeds causes changes within the plants which lead to death. These changes are induced by chemicals that act as hormones, redirecting the resources of the plants from the roots and leaves to the production of fruits and or seeds. The century plant in the genus '' Agave'', some terrestrial

bromeliad The Bromeliaceae (the bromeliads) are a family of monocot flowering plants of about 80 genera and 3700 known species, native mainly to the tropical Americas, with several species found in the American subtropics and one in tropical west Africa, ...

s of the genus ''

Puya Puya may refer to: * ''Puya'' (plant), in the family Bromeliaceae * Puya (river), in Russia * Puya, a variety of Guajillo chili * ''Puya'' (Meitei texts), traditional or mythological texts of the Meetei people * ''Culoepuya'' or ''Culo'e Puya'', V ...

'', ''

Tillandsia utriculata ''Tillandsia utriculata'', commonly known as the spreading airplant or the giant airplant, is a species of bromeliad that is native to Florida and Georgia in the United States, the Caribbean, southern and eastern Mexico ( Tamaulipas, Veracru ...

'', some yuccas, and many bamboos can take 8 to 20 years or in the case of some bamboos even over 100 years to bloom and then die. Hawaiian silverswords and their relatives in the genus '' Wilkesia'' may take 10–50 years before flowering. Monocot plant families that include monocarpic species include

Agavaceae Agavoideae is a subfamily of monocot flowering plants in the family Asparagaceae, order Asparagales. It has previously been treated as a separate family, Agavaceae. The group includes many well-known desert and dry-zone types, such as the agav ...

, Araceae,

Bromeliaceae The Bromeliaceae (the bromeliads) are a family of monocot Monocotyledons (), commonly referred to as monocots, (Lilianae ''sensu'' Chase & Reveal) are grass and grass-like flowering plants (angiosperms), the seeds of which typically contain o ...

Musaceae Musaceae is a family of flowering plants composed of three genera with about 91 known species, placed in the order Zingiberales. The family is native to the tropics of Africa and Asia. The plants have a large herbaceous growth habit with leaves ...

, and

Poaceae Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns an ...

Dicot The dicotyledons, also known as dicots (or, more rarely, dicotyls), are one of the two groups into which all the flowering plants (angiosperms) were formerly divided. The name refers to one of the typical characteristics of the group: namely, t ...

plant families that include monocarpic species include Acanthaceae, Apocynaceae, Asteraceae, and

Fabaceae The Fabaceae or Leguminosae,International Code of Nomenc ...

. Few dicot shrubs with multiple branching and secondary growth species have been described. Those that have include ''

Strobilanthes ''Strobilanthes'' is a genus of about 350 species of flowering plants in the family Acanthaceae, mostly native to tropical Asia and Madagascar, but with a few species extending north into temperate regions of Asia. Many species are cultivated for ...

'' species, ''Cerberiopsis candelabrum'', ''

Tachigali versicolor ''Tachigali versicolor'' or the suicide tree is a species of tree found from Costa Rica to western Colombia. It is monocarpic, flowering only once before dying, which gives rise to its common name of the "suicide tree". Reproduction ''Tachigali ...

'' and other ''

Tachigali ''Tachigali'' is a flowering plant genus in the legume family (Fabaceae) that contains 54 species. Species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. ...

'' species. Some monocarpic plants can be kept alive if the flowers are removed as soon as they have finished blooming before seed formation begins, or if the flower buds are removed before they begin blooming.

References

{{reflist Plant life-forms Plant reproduction Fertility

See also

References