Annual to perennial reproductive shift in Anisomeles indica (L.) Kuntze: a strategic seasonal switch

Abstract

Plants of Anisomeles indica are perennial woody shrubs that initiate their life cycle from seeds. The young plants emerging from seeds enter sexual phase immediately thereafter. After setting seeds, the plants do not die. Instead, following winters, root stock perennates where after these plants follow spring and monsoon phases for the rest of their lives. Plants follow vegetative to blooming phenology step by step without showing any functional overlap in their reproductive phase. The spring phase of perennating plants on account of its brevity is unable to ensure sustainable reproductive output necessitating the monsoon phase. Parallelly, the seeds dispersed through these phases grow and follow the same strategy of sexual to spring to monsoon phases. This modified variant of iteroparity coupled with the advantages accrued to particular morphological characters such as increased plant height, numbers of tillers and inflorescences per plant, fruits per infructescence and seed weight per unit leaf area enhance its survival and reproductive fitness.