The annual biological cycles of Teucrium polium L. and Thymus sibthorpii Bentham (Lamiaceae)
Abstract
Teucrium polium appears in winter as a cluster of short shoots with small leaves (chamaephyte). In early spring, shoots progressively elongate until in late spring shoot elongation ceases. At the tip of each shoot, an inflorescence (dichasium with apical racemes) is developed which completes pollination by the end of July. Summer leaves are about 10-fold larger than winter leaves. In November, summer leaves are shed and the leaf-naked shoots later become dried and abscise. In winter, the dormant buds at the base of the plant break dormancy and generate many short shoots forming a claster.
Thymus sibthorpii is also chamaephyte. In early spring, the short winter shoots start increasing in length and by the end of April shoot elongation becomes completed. On the tip of each shoot an inflorescence (raceme) is developed which completes pollination by the end of May. In summer, plants consist of leaf-bearing shoots only (inflorescence axes dry and then drop down). In November, all leaves are shed and small shoots sprout out from dormant buds at the base of the plant.
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