evergreen

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Plants that retain their green foliage throughout the year. Popularly, needle-leaved trees (pine, fir, juniper, spruce) and certain broad-leaved shrubs (rhododendron, laurel) are called evergreens. In warm regions many broad-leaved trees (magnolia, live oak) are evergreen, and in the tropics most trees are evergreen and nearly all have broad leaves. Many herbaceous biennials and perennials have basal rosettes with leaves close to the ground that remain green throughout the winter. See also Forest and forestry; Leaf; Plant taxonomy.

A plant which keeps its leaves throughout the year instead of losing them seasonally. Most evergreens have some defence against water loss in the winter in the form of needle-like or waxy leaves.

A high proportion of the plants important in folk customs are evergreen—a fact which can be seen either in practical or symbolic terms. Folklorists have usually highlighted the latter, suggesting that at winter festivals they represented the unconquered life-force, and at funerals immortality. This may be so, though early sources offer little direct evidence, and what there is does not always bear out the theory; holly, for instance, is celebrated in a well-known medieval carol because its features recall aspects of Christ's birth and life, while rosemary proverbially was ‘for remembrance’. The herbalist Willam Coles, in his The Art of Simpling (1656: 64-5), thought lasting memory was the key concept:

Cypresse Garlands are of great account at Funeralls amongst the gentiler sort, but Rosemary and Bayes are used by the Commons both at Funeralls and Weddings. They are all plants which fade not a good while after they are gathered and used (as I conceive) to intimate unto us, that the remembrance of the present solemnity might not dye presently, but be kept in minde for many years.

Said of a plant or tree that retains its verdure through all the seasons, as the pine and other coniferous trees, the holly, rhododendron, etc.

The custom of decorating houses at Christmastide with evergreen plants—holly, ivy, box, laurel, mistletoe—is sometimes said to have originated when Christianity was introduced into Europe in order to typify the first British church, built of evergreen boughs. More probably it extends back into antiquity. In Druidic times, people decorated their houses with evergreen plants so that the sylvan spirits might come there to shelter from the severity of winter until their leafy bowers were renewed in the coming year. It was a widespread superstition that it was unlucky to remove evergreen Christmas decorations until after Twelfth Night.

A contract provision that automatically renews the length of the agreement after a predetermined period, unless notice for termination is given. Evergreens are often used for long term agreements such as memberships or maintenance contracts.

Investopedia Says:
An evergreen is renewed after a short period, which is agreed upon by the parties at the outset of the contract. Let's use a year-long evergreen contract with a monthly renewal as an example. This contract will last one year from the beginning month. After the first month, if no termination notice is given, then contract will extend to last a year from that period and so on. Once termination is given, the contract would live out the rest the year and not be renewed again.

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A plant that retains its leaves for more than one annual cycle of growth.

Evergreen plants, such as pine trees, traditionally represent immortality because they do not shed their leaves, even in the dead of winter. They also symbolize hope in the midst of despair for the same reason. Because of their association with Christmas, evergreens also symbolize gift-giving.

• Botany and Plant Parts - evergreen: plant that maintains functional green foliage throughout year
• Plants and Plant Parts - evergreen: plant that maintains functional green foliage throughout year

This article is about plant types. For other uses, see Evergreen (disambiguation).

A Silver Fir shoot showing three successive years of retained leaves.

In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant that has leaves in all seasons. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage during the winter or dry season.

There are many different kinds of evergreen plants, both trees and shrubs. Evergreens include:

• most species of conifers (e.g., hemlock, blue spruce, red cedar, and white/scots/jack pine)

• live oak, holly, and "ancient" gymnosperms such as cycads

• most angiosperms from frost-free climates, such as eucalypts and rainforest trees

An additional special case exists in Welwitschia, an African gymnosperm plant that produces only two leaves, which grow continuously throughout the plant's life but gradually wear away at the apex, giving 20–40 years and can live for about 500 years.

Leaf persistence in evergreen plants varies from a few months (with new leaves constantly being grown as old ones are shed) to several decades (over thirty years in the Great Basin Bristlecone Pine^[1]).

Contents 1 Reasons for being evergreen or deciduous 2 Metaphorical use 3 See also 4 References

Reasons for being evergreen or deciduous

A Southern Live Oak in winter.

Deciduous trees shed their leaves usually as an adaptation to a cold or dry season. Evergreen trees do lose leaves, but not all at the same time the way that deciduous trees do. Different trees shed their leaves at different times, so the forest as a whole looks green. Most tropical rainforest plants are considered to be evergreens, replacing their leaves gradually throughout the year as the leaves age and fall, whereas species growing in seasonally arid climates may be either evergreen or deciduous. Most warm temperate climate plants are also evergreen. In cool temperate climates, fewer plants are evergreen, with a predominance of conifers, as few evergreen broadleaf plants can tolerate severe cold below about -30 °C.

In areas where there is a reason for being deciduous (e.g. a cold season or dry season), being evergreen is usually an adaptation to low nutrient levels. Deciduous trees lose nutrients whenever they lose their leaves. In warmer areas, species such as some pines and cypresses grow on poor soils and disturbed ground. In Rhododendron, a genus with many broadleaf evergreens, several species grow in mature forests but are usually found on highly acidic soil where the nutrients are less available to plants. In taiga or boreal forests, it is too cold for the organic matter in the soil to decay rapidly, so the nutrients in the soil are less easily available to plants, thus favouring evergreens.

In temperate climates, evergreens can reinforce their own survival; evergreen leaf and needle litter has a higher carbon-nitrogen ratio than deciduous leaf litter, contributing to a higher soil acidity and lower soil nitrogen content. These conditions favour the growth of more evergreens and make it more difficult for deciduous plants to persist. In addition, the shelter provided by existing evergreen plants can make it easier for younger evergreen plants to survive cold and/or drought.^[2][3][4]

Evergreen plants and deciduous plants have almost all the same diseases and pests, but long-term air pollution, ash and toxic substances in the air are more injurious for evergreen plants than deciduous plants (for example spruce Picea abies in European cities).

Metaphorical use

Owing to the botanical meaning, the term "evergreen" can refer metaphorically to something that is continuously renewed or is self-renewing. One example of metaphorical use of the expression is the term "Evergreen content" used to describe perennial articles or guides about topics that do not change frequently.^[5]

See also

• Conifer
• Deciduous
• Fir
• Hemlock
• Pine
• Semi-deciduous
• Spruce
• Little Trees
• Hemp

References

1. ^ Ewers, F. W. & Schmid, R. (1981). Longevity of needle fascicles of Pinus longaeva (Bristlecone Pine) and other North American pines. Oecologia 51: 107–115
2. ^ Aerts, R. (1995). The advantages of being evergreen. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 10 (10): 402–407.
3. ^ Matyssek, R. (1986) Carbon, water and nitrogen relations in evergreen and deciduous conifers. Tree Physiology 2: 177–187.
4. ^ Sobrado, M. A. (1991) Cost-Benefit Relationships in Deciduous and Evergreen Leaves of Tropical Dry Forest Species. Functional Ecology 5 (5): 608–616.
5. ^ Gomes, Diego. (2011). [1] What is evergreen content

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Dansk (Danish)
adj. - stedsegrøn, evigt ung
n. - stedsegrøn vækst, evergreen

Nederlands (Dutch)
evergreen, immergroen (plant/boom), iets wat altijd interessant/ populair blijft

Français (French)
adj. - vert, à feuilles persistantes, toujours en vogue, éternel, qui revient toujours (un sujet, une conversation)
n. - arbre/plante à feuilles persistantes, (fig) chanson qui ne vieillit pas, (US) crédit permanent non confirmé

Deutsch (German)
adj. - immergrün, ständig aktuell
n. - Immergrün, Evergreen

Ελληνική (Greek)
adj. - (φυτολ., μτφ.) αειθαλής
n. - αειθαλές φυτό

Italiano (Italian)
sempreverde

Português (Portuguese)
adj. - perene
n. - sempre-verde (f) (Bot.)

Русский (Russian)
вечнозеленое растение, неувядающая популярность

Español (Spanish)
adj. - siempre verde, de hoja perenne
n. - cualquier planta o arbusto de hoja perenne

Svenska (Swedish)
adj. - vintergrön
n. - vintergrön växt, evergreen (schlager)

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
常绿的, 常绿树, 常绿植物

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 常綠的
n. - 常綠樹, 常綠植物

한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 상록의
n. - 상록수, 사철나무

日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - 常緑の
n. - 常緑樹

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(صفه) دائم الخضرة (الاسم) شجرة دائمه الخضرة‏

עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - ‮ירוק-עד‬
n. - ‮עץ ירוק-עד‬

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