Evergreen

This article is about the plant type. For other uses see Evergreen (disambiguation)

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Evergreen has two meanings in relation to plants. The first meaning is that of a plant retaining its foliage year-round (a botanist would say the leaves are persistent or not deciduous). Most tropical plants are naturally "evergreen" in this sense, the main exceptions being species growing in arid climates or climates with an extreme dry season. In temperate zones, however, few plants are evergreen; most are deciduous. The majority of Australian native plants are evergreen, replacing their leaves gradually throughout the year as they fall.

The other meaning of evergreen is that of reference to a conifer. Technically, this is incorrect since some conifers, the larch and Bald cypress for examples, are decidious and lose their needles once a year.