What type of weed lives for two years, forming a rosette in the first year and producing seed in the second year?

• A. Annual Weed
• B. Biennial Weed
• C. Perennial Weed
• D. Monocarpic Weed

Answer: (B)

Two-year life cycle is the hallmark of a biennial weed. In the first year, this type grows a low, compact rosette close to the ground that stores energy. In the second year, it uses that stored energy to shoot up a flowering stalk, produce seeds, and then typically die. That pattern—rosette growth in year one followed by seed production in year two—is what defines biennials.

Annual weeds complete their entire life cycle in one growing season, so they don’t form a rosette stage followed by a second-year flowering. Perennial weeds persist for many years and often regrow after being cut or mowed, rather than dying after a single seed set. Monocarpic describes plants that flower only once and then die; many biennials fit this, but the clear two-year sequence with a rosette first is the classic example of a biennial weed.