What type of plant completes their lifecycle in one year?

• A. Biennials
• B. Perennials
• C. Annuals
• D. Summer annuals

Answer: (C)

Plants that complete their life cycle in one year are annuals. The key idea is how long the plant lives and reproduces: annuals germinate, grow, flower, set seed, and die within a single growing season. They don’t persist for multiple years, which distinguishes them from other lifecycles.

Biennials need two years to finish their life cycle, typically growing vegetatively in the first year and flowering in the second. Perennials live for several years and can flower multiple times over many seasons. Summer annuals are a subset of annuals that complete their life cycle in one growing season during the summer, but the broad category that fits any one-year life cycle is annuals.