deciduous

Describing trees and shrubs, that shed their leaves at the end of the growing season or during a dry season to reduce transpiration (the loss of water by evaporation).

Most deciduous trees belong to the angiosperms, plants in which the seeds are enclosed within an ovary, and the term ‘deciduous tree’ is sometimes used to mean ‘angiosperm tree’, despite the fact that many angiosperms are evergreen, especially in the tropics, and a few gymnosperms, plants in which the seeds are exposed, are deciduous (for example, larches). The term broad-leaved is now preferred to ‘deciduous’ for this reason.