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How long does an annual plant take to complete its life cycle?
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Plant
Grandidier's baobas (Adansonia grandidieri) in Madagascar.
An annual plant completes its entire life cycle—including growth, flowering, and death—within a single growing season.12
While a growing season often aligns with traditional seasonal changes, it is not strictly defined by them. For many plants, this cycle occurs over several months, such as summer annuals that germinate in spring and go to seed by autumn, or winter annuals that germinate in late summer and die the following spring. In some cases, the life cycle can be remarkably brief; certain desert annuals can sprout, flower, and produce seeds in just a few weeks following rainfall, spending the remainder of their existence as dormant seeds in the soil seed bank.1