Raunkiær’s life form of the species. Raunkiær’s system is based on the perennating organs (seeds or buds), and in the latter case on the position of the buds relative to the soil or water surface during the unfavourable season.
Life-form categories:
Ph – Phanerophytes: woody plants with resting buds high above the soil surface
MM – Mega-mesophanerophytes: trees
M – Microphanerophytes: shrubs
N – Nanophanerophytes: subshrubs
Ch – Chamaephytes: perennial plants with resting buds close to the soil surface (dwarf shrubs, cushion plants).
H – Hemicryptophytes: perennial plants with resting buds on the soil surface or right below the surface
G – Geophytes: perennial plants with resting buds in the soil, well below the surface
HH – Hydato-helophytes: aquatic plants with resting buds in the water or at the bottom of the water body
HT – Hemitherophytes: biennial plants that overwinter in the first year and die in the second year after fruit ripening
Th – Therophytes: annual plants that survive unfavourable seasons in the form of seeds
E – Epiphytes: plants living on other plants, mostly on trees
Data source and citation:
Király G. (ed.) (2009) Új magyar füvészkönyv. Magyarország hajtásos növényei. Határozókulcsok. [New Hungarian Herbal. The Vascular Plants of Hungary. Identification key.] – Aggteleki Nemzeti Park Igazgatóság, Jósvafő, 616 p.
Sonkoly, J., Tóth, E., Balogh, N., Balogh, L., Bartha, D. ... Török, P. (2022) PADAPT 1.0 – the Pannonian Database of Plant Traits. bioRxiv, doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.12.05.519136
