Deciduous

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Deciduous forest after leaf fall

Like many deciduous plants, Forsythia flowers during the leafless season

Deciduous means "temporary" or "tending to fall off" (deriving from the Latin word decidere, to fall off) and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally.

Such broad-leaf trees & shrubs include Maple, Oak, Elm, Aspen, and Birch, among others. Periods of leaf fall often coincide with seasons: winter in the case of cool-climate plants or the dry-season in the case of tropical plants.

Botany

In botany, deciduous plants, principally trees and shrubs, are those that lose all of their leaves for part of the year. This process is called abscission. In some cases, the leaf loss coincides with winter in temperate or polar climates, while others lose their leaves during the dry season in climates with seasonal variation in rainfall. The converse of deciduous is evergreen; plants that are intermediate may be called semi-deciduous.

Many deciduous plants flower during the period when they are leafless, as this increases the effectiveness of pollination. The absence of leaves improves wind transmission of pollen in the case of wind-pollinated plants, and increases the visibility of the flowers to insects in insect-pollinated plants. This strategy is not without risks, as the flowers can be damaged by frost, or in dry season areas, result in water stress on the plant. Nevertheless, by losing leaves in the cold winter days, plants can reduce water loss since most of the water would appear as ice, and there is much less branch and trunk breakage from glaze ice storms when leafless (Lemon 1961).

Anatomy

In anatomy, deciduous teeth, also called milk teeth, are those that fall out during the course of normal development. Other body parts that are shed, such as antlers, are also described as deciduous.

Regions

The deciduous forest is in North America and Europe, and parts of Asia, Australia, and Africa (Madagascar).

References

• Lemon, P. C. (1961). Forest ecology of ice storms. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 88: 21.