A type of plant that survives winter by having its buds located close to the ground surface, between sea level and about 25 centimeters high.
From Greek 'chamae' (low, on the ground) and 'phyton' (plant). This is one of several life-form classifications created by Swedish botanist Christen Raunkiaer in 1934.
Botanists classify plants by where they keep their growth buds in winter—chamaephytes are the mid-range survivors that hug the ground but aren't fully underground like geophytes, a clever way to think about plant survival strategies.
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