noun
- The condition or quality of a plant that flowers and fruits multiple times during its lifetime.
Usage: botanical term; also called polycarpic or polycarpous when used as an adjective
Examples
- Polycarpy is common in perennial plants that produce seeds year after year.
- The apple tree exhibits polycarpy, bearing fruit throughout many seasons of its life.
- Unlike monocarpy, polycarpy allows a plant to reproduce multiple times.
- Botanists study polycarpy to understand long-term reproductive strategies in plants.
- Many herbaceous perennials demonstrate polycarpy by flowering repeatedly over decades.