BioConcepts

hemicryptophytehémicryptophyte (fr.); Hemikryptophyt (ger.)

• A plant life form in Raunkiaer's system of classification. Hemicryptophytes are typically herbaceous perennials, such as grasses, which produce perennating buds at the soil surface, where the buds are protected by leaf or stem bases. (Oxford Dict. of Biology 2008)
  category life form

  1904

  III. Jordskorpeplanter, Hemikryptofyter. De overlevende Knopper eller Skudspidser sidder lige i Jordskorpen.

  Raunkiær, C. (1904). Om biologiske Typer, med Hensyn til Planternes Tilpasning til at overleve ugunstige Aarstider. Botanisk Tidskrift 26, XIV.

  1905

  Le troisième type principal est celui des Hémicryptophytes dont les bourgeons persistants se trouvent à fleur de sol où ils sont protégés par la couche de terre environnante et par les particules végétales mortes qui la couvrent.

  Raunkiær, C. (1905). Types biologiques pour la géographie botanique. Oversigt over Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskabs Forhandlinger, 1905, 347-438: 353; transl. in id. (1934). The Life Forms of Plants and Statistical Plant Geography.

  1907

  Hence he [scil. Raunkiaer] proposes a new classification, based on resting buds and other organs that are most in evidence in rigorous seasons. On this basis five great plant classes are recognized: phanerophytes, whose buds are considerably above the ground (trees and shrubs); chamephytes, whose buds are slightly above the ground; hemicryptophytes, whose buds are at the ground level; cryptophytes, whose buds are hidden in the ground; and therophytes, whose buds persist only in seeds (annuals).

  Cowles, H.C. (1907). Resting buds as indices of ecological types. Botanical Gazette 44, 392.

  1909

  His [scil. Raunkiær’s] five chief groups were phanerophytes, chamaephytes, hemicryptophytes, cryptophytes, and therophytes.

  Warming, E. (1909). Oecology of Plants: 5.

  1910

  III. Hemikryptophyten; Knospen dicht am Boden, von Erde oder Pflanzenresten geschützt.

  Tobler, G. (transl.) (1910). In: Raunkiaer, C. (1910). Statistik der Lebensformen als Grundlage für die biologische Pflanzengeographie. Beiheft zum Bot. Centralbl. 27 (2), 171-206: 171.

  1913

  The Anemone nemorosa facies of the beech-wood is geophytic since the 0·1 sq. m. readings show geophytes 82 per cent., hemicryptophytes 18 per cent.

  Smith, W.G. (1913). Raunkiaer’s “life-forms” and statistical methods. Journal of Ecology 1, 16-26: 17.

  1982

  hemicryptophyte A perennial plant with renewal buds at ground level or within the surface layer of soil; typically exhibiting degeneration of vegetative shoots to ground level at the onset of the unfavourable season; cf. Raunkiaerian life forms.

  Lincoln, R.J., Boxshall, G.A. & Clark, P.F. (1982). A Dictionary of Ecology, Evolution and Systematics: 110.