Biennial Plant Examples: Detailed Explanations and Images

The listed below in this article are biennial plant example around the globe, which has its own properties, distinct morphology and medicinal or herbal uses.

  • Carrots
  • Hollyhock
  • Foxglove
  • Canterbury bells
  • Black-eyed Susan
  • Sweet William
  • Parsley
  • Cabbage
  • Onions
  • Lady’s Glove
  • Common mullein
  • Iceland poppy
  • Parsnip
  • Angelica
  • Clary Sage
  • Delphinium
  • Dusty Miller
  • Evening Primrose
  • Lunaria
  • Pansy
  • Queen Anne’s Lace
  • Viola
  • Polyanthus
  • California Poppy
  • Wallflower
  • Yellow Horned Poppy

Carrots

They are biennial plants belonging from the plant kingdom family Apiaceae. It is a root vegetable orange in colour, it has originated from Persia and is native to Europe and Southwestern Asia. The leaf produces large amount of sugars and the taproot provide energy to the plant. The leaf appears after 10-15 days of germination, and are arranged in an alternate spiral arrangement.  Carrot root is used for the deficiency of Vitamin A and also used to prevent cancer, for digestive health, obesity and other nutrient deficiencies.

Hollyhock-

Alcea is the genus name for hollyhock originating from the plant family Malvaceae. They are found from Asia to Europe. This plant is an unbranched and biennial. The leaf blades are lobed. The flower has mainly pink, white, purple or yellow colour. It is often used as garden ornamental plants. The stem is used for firewood, whereas the roots have therapeutic impacts

biennial plant example
Hollyhock- Pixabay

Foxglove-

Digitalis is a genus biennial plant having a  common name, foxglove. The flowers are tubular and varies in colour from purple to pink to white to yellow. The whole parts of the plant contains toxic cardiac glycosides and they are toxic if consumed. Mainly stimulates heart failure or irregular heartbeat.

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Foxglove- Flickr

Canterbury Bells

Campanula medium is a biennial, hermaphrodite plant belonging to the family Campanulaceae. In floriography it is represented as gratitude, constancy and faith. This plant reaches a height of 60-80 cm, the stem is robust and has thin frizzy hair on its surface. The flowers are long-lasting and has different shade of blue, violet and rarely white. The plant is used for floral arrangements and is used to make honey.

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Canterbury Bells- Wikimedia

Black-Eyed Susan-

Rudbeckia hirta is a North American biennial flowering plant . It has alternate basal leaves being covered by coarse hair. The flowers have a height of 4 inches with yellow ray florets circling the brown dome-shaped cone. This plant has various therapeutic uses like strengthening the immune system, helps in curing cold, flu, earaches, snakebites etc.

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Black Eyed Susan- Wikimedia

Sweet William-

It is the herbaceous biennial ornamental plant reaching a height of 13-92 cm long, the flowers form a dense cluster at the top of the stem. They are white in colour with red base.

Parsley-

Garden parsley is a flowering plant in the family Apiaceae. It has a bright green colour and mainly used for culinary purposes, to garnish, for condiments and food flavouring.

Cabbage-

Brassica oleracea is a biennial plant, which is used as a vegetable, often green in colour, purple and red are also available. It is smooth headed leafy structured, weighs 500-1000 grams. It is mainly consumed in winters. It helps to improve digestion, lowers high blood pressure. It is rich in nutrients and Vitamin C.

Onions-

Allium sepa , commonly called bulb onion, is one of widely cultivated vegetable worldwide. The scallion of the onion is observed to classify among different species. This plant has hollow bluish green leaves at the base. Onions are eaten raw and also used in pickles and as a condiment in food.

Lady’s Glove-

Digitalis flower is tubular in nature and originates from Central and North America.

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Lady’s Glove- Pixabay

Common mullein

Verbascum is a genus of flowering plants, common name mullein in the family Scrophulariaceae. This plant is frequently used for herbal therapy.  The colours of the petals are often yellow, orange, red-brown etc. This plant helps in recovering pulmonary problems, asthma, diarrhoea and migraine headaches.

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Common mullein- Wikipedia

Iceland poppy-

Papaver nudicaule is a flowering plant native to subpolar regions of Asia, North America and parts of China. It is a bowl-shaped plant have light fragrant flowers supported by hairy roots. It is used to create pain relieving capsules, the oil extracted is also used for cooking and making margarine.

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Iceland Poppy- Wikimedia

Parsnip-

It is a biennial vegetable plant, belonging to the family Apiaceae. It has a long taproot, becomes sweeter in flavour during winters. It is native in Eurasian countries. It is high in nutients, antioxidants and minerals.

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Parsnip- Pixabay

Angelica-

It is a genus plant native to central and north America. They grow up to 1-3 metre and have bipinnate leaves. The flowers are greenish and white greenish in colour. The roots and seeds are used for the production of liquor.

Clary Sage-

This plant has lilac or pale blue corolla and grows to a height of 2.5 cm. It is consumed to cure menstrual pain, for indigestion, to regularize the symptoms of menopause, anxiety, stress etc.

Delphinium-

It is a biennial plant belonging from the family Ranunculaceae. The common name of this plant is larkspur. The plant has a height of 10ft in some alpine species. The flowers are bilaterally symmetrical. It is used to cure intestinal bacterii, poor appetite and insomnia.

Dusty Miller-

Centaurea cineraria is from the family Asteraceae. The mature plant has 15-60 cm height and produces flowers of colour yellow and white. It helps to reduce migraine headaches.

Evening Primrose-

This species belongs to Onagraceae. The height is 1.6 metre. The flowers are hermaphrodite in nature, bloomed on a tall spike and lasts up to full moon night.

Lunaria-

Lunaria annua is a biennial herbaceous plant having the same family as cabbage and mustard. The plant has a height of 90 cm and breadth wise its 30 cm. It possesses terminal racemases of white and purple flowers. This plant is easy to grow and tends to naturalize. The leaves are collected and are used to prepare salads.

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Lunaria- Wikipedia

Pansy-

It is a huge garden flower, derived by hybridization of various species of Melanium.

Queen Anne’s Lace-

Wild carrot belongs to the floral family Apiaceae. This plant is used to cure kidney stones and eliminates bacteria from the digestive and other organs of our body.

Viola

It is a biennial plant belonging from the family Violaceae. They has axillary leaves, short stems and the flowers appear from the bottom of the stem. It helps in the treatment of headache, migraine and insomnia.

Polyanthus-

This plant blossoms cheerful and bright flowers through July and October.

California Poppy-

This plant is known for its bright orange flowers. This is used to make flavoured tea.

Wallflower-

It is a southern European plant with yellow, orange-red, dark red in colour.

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Wallflower- Pixabay

Yellow Horned Poppy-

Glaucium flavum, the yellow horned poppy is a summer biennial plant in the family Papaveraceous. 

Frequently Asked Question-

What are Biennial Plants?

A biennial plant is a flowering plant that takes two years, generally in a temperate climate, to complete its biological life cycle.

Biennials grown for flowers, fruits, or seeds need to be grown for two years. Biennials that are grown for edible leaves or roots are grown for just one year.

Summary

In conclusion we can understand that biennial plants have a short life span of two years and have multiple significances. Some of them have ornamental abilities and some of them have medicinal qualities, some of them are edible also.

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