alleryStart learning →How long may the vegetative period last in some bamboo species before flowering?
AAs long as 12 years
BAs long as 40 years
CAs long as 80 years
DAs long as 120 years
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: D. As long as 120 years
1. Monocarpic plants spend a long vegetative period before their single flowering.
2. In some bamboo species that period may be as long as 120 years.
3. Through those years the plant may reproduce asexually and accumulate the food material its one flowering will need.
4. Soon after flowering and setting seed the plant dies, so the timing is a once in a lifetime event.
5. Shorter spans of 12 or 40 years would place bamboo among ordinary perennials, which flower repeatedly.
6. Documented ages of 4,500 years belong to the bristlecone pine, a different record altogether.
_Source: OpenStax Biology (1st ed., CC BY 4.0), Ch 32 "Plant Reproduction", section 32.3 Asexual Reproduction_
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