A plant grown from seed, that completes its life cycle within the span of two growing seasons. The plant spends the first season growing leaves, and flowers and produces seeds in the second season. The system was developed in the 18th century by Linneus, a Swedish naturalist. Both names are italicized. A method of sowing seeds in which you scatter the seeds randomly rather then planting in rows.
Leaves are often spikey and stiff, with colours ranging from green, red, pink, silver or variegated.
A large percentage of this family are epiphytes, air plants that attach themselves to the branches of other plants rather then soil. The extraction of energy through the chemical breakdown of stored food molecules. Part of the process of germination . This is most often used as a visual enhancement to attract specific species of insects and birds to aid in pollen transfer. In some cases it is a storage organ, in others it absorbs food from the endosperm for use by the seedling.