Semi-deciduous
/seh-mee-deh-SID-yoo-us/🌱 Growth Habits●● Intermediate
Also known as: semi-evergreen
A plant that sheds a portion of its leaves during the unfavourable season (winter cold or dry-season drought) while retaining others. In practice, semi-deciduous and semi-evergreen describe the same phenomenon from opposite perspectives — one emphasises what is lost, the other what is kept. The term is more common in tropical and subtropical contexts where drought triggers leaf drop.
Etymology
Latin semi- (half) + deciduus (falling off)
Example
“Many tropical trees are semi-deciduous, shedding leaves briefly during the dry season before flushing new growth.”