Hairy bittercress is an example of which category of weed?

Hairy bittercress is an example of which category of weed?

• A. Summer annual weed
• B. Perennial weed
• C. Winter annual weed
• D. Biennial weed

Answer: (C)

Hairy bittercress fits the pattern of a winter annual weed. It starts life in fall, overwinters as a small rosette, and then bolts and produces seeds in spring before the heat of summer arrives. This single growing season that crosses winter is what defines a winter annual. It isn’t a summer annual, which would finish its life cycle before winter; nor a perennial, which keeps coming back year after year from the same plant; nor a biennial, which typically takes two growing seasons to reproduce. So the cool-season timing and single-year life cycle point to winter annual.

Hairy bittercress fits the pattern of a winter annual weed. It starts life in fall, overwinters as a small rosette, and then bolts and produces seeds in spring before the heat of summer arrives. This single growing season that crosses winter is what defines a winter annual. It isn’t a summer annual, which would finish its life cycle before winter; nor a perennial, which keeps coming back year after year from the same plant; nor a biennial, which typically takes two growing seasons to reproduce. So the cool-season timing and single-year life cycle point to winter annual.