Serotiny

Common card · No. 467204

Serotiny in botany simply means 'following' or 'later'. In the case of serotinous flowers, it means flowers which grow following the growth of leaves, or even more simply, flowering later in the season than is typical with allied species. Having serotinous leaves is also possible, these follow the flowering. Serotiny is contrasted with coetany. Coetaneous flowers or leaves appear together with each other. In the case of serotinous fruit, the term is used in the more general sense of plants that release their seed over a long period of time, irrespective of whether release is spontaneous; in this sense the term is synonymous with bradyspory. In the case of certain Australian, North American, South African or Californian plants which grow in areas subjected to regular wildfires, serotinous fruit can also mean an ecological adaptation exhibited by some seed plants, in which seed release occurs in response to an environmental trigger, rather than spontaneously at seed maturation. The most...

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