What type of weed germinates in spring, grows through the year, flowers and seeds in late summer, and dies at the end of the growing season?

• A. Biennial
• B. Summer annual
• C. Perennial
• D. Winter annual

Answer: (B)

A summer annual completes its entire life cycle within a single growing season. It germinates when soils warm in spring, grows through the summer, flowers and produces seeds in late summer, and then dies as the season ends. The scenario described—germinating in spring, growing through the year, flowering and seeding in late summer, and dying at the end of the growing season—fits that pattern exactly.

This isn’t a biennial, which takes two growing seasons to reproduce; nor a perennial, which lives for multiple years and keeps coming back; nor a winter annual, which germinates in fall or winter and completes its life cycle by spring or early summer.