Plant life span?

[John2468]

Hello everyone, I was strolling through the internet and saw people saying how different plants have different life spans. This got me thinking if they actually have a life span or if they could live indefinitely if it wasn’t for factors such as diseases and pests, external factors such as droughts and whatnot. Thanks!

[Silas_Sancona]

1 hour ago, John2468 said:

Hello everyone, I was strolling through the internet and saw people saying how different plants have different life spans. This got me thinking if they actually have a life span or if they could live indefinitely if it wasn’t for factors such as diseases and pests, external factors such as droughts and whatnot. Thanks!

Can't think of anything that doesn't have a lifespan, even rocks or the universe....  So yes, Plants have one too..

As far as plants, Annual, Biennial, and Perennial represent the basic foundation of a plant's lifespan.. Obviously, perennials will be the longest living of the three categories which are determined by genetics.

That said, even among perennials, you can have a perennial that can live for 3-5 or 10 years ( Grasses, herbaceous things ), and a tree ( technically a perennial ) that can live from anywhere between 50, 1-400,  to a couple thousand years ( Think Bristlecone Pines, Certain Aspen colonies,  King's Clone Creosote Bush specimen ...and some other leafy  things they've found have been around for quite awhile )

In the case of the Aspen and Creosote Bush, life ..of the plant... continues via cloning. In the case of both, offsets form a ring  as newer copies of the mother radiate out and away from where the plant started.

Bristlecones grow so slowly and in an environment where they don't exert much energy ..which helps extend it's potential lifespan.   If you looked at the oldest living specimen, you'd see just a few strips of living material clinging to a lot of dead, old wood. ...vs. the assumed view of a full looking tree in it's prime. 

If a plant ..or anything else lived forever, we'd still be able to go and see / grow  some of the weird looking earliest conifers / other stuff that grew millions of years ago.. Those exact species / Genus  ..not the distant relatives that have evolved from them through that same massive span off time.




 

[kukras]

On 5/25/2025 at 1:18 AM, John2468 said:

Hello everyone, I was strolling through the internet and saw people saying how different plants have different life spans. This got me thinking if they actually have a life span or if they could live indefinitely if it wasn’t for factors such as diseases and pests, external factors such as droughts and whatnot. Thanks!









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Hey! Yeah, plants do technically have lifespans—some are annuals (live a year), biennials (two years), or perennials (live for many years). But you're right too—under perfect conditions, some plants like certain trees or clonal species can live for thousands of years, basically indefinitely unless something external kills them off. So it’s kind of both!