Field bindweed, dandelion, and johnsongrass are:

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

Answer: (B)

Weed life cycles describe how long a plant lives and how it regrows. Field bindweed, dandelion, and johnsongrass persist year after year by regrowing from underground structures—bindweed from deep roots, dandelion from a long taproot, and johnsongrass from rhizomes. Because they survive beyond a single growing season and can come back year after year, they are perennials. Summer annuals complete their life cycle in one season and die; winter annuals germinate in fall and complete growth by spring; biennials take two years, flowering in the second year. These patterns don’t apply to the plants above, which continually regenerate from their underground systems.