Biennial plants typically:

• A. Complete their life cycle in two years, typically flowering in the second year.
• B. Complete their life cycle in one year.
• C. Are evergreen shrubs.
• D. Reproduce only vegetatively.

Answer: (A)

Biennial plants have a two-year life cycle. In the first year they focus on vegetative growth and store energy, so they can survive through a winter. In the second year they use that stored energy to produce flowering stems, set seed, and then usually die after seed production. This pattern—two-year lifespan with flowering in the second year—is what defines biennials. They are not completed in one year (that would be annuals), nor are they necessarily evergreen shrubs (which are perennials that keep leaves year-round). While some plants can spread vegetatively, the hallmark of biennials is that they flower and reproduce by seed in their second year.