- For the place in California, see Shrub,
California
.
A
shrub or
bush is a
horticultural rather than a strict
botanical category of
woody
plant, distinguished from a
tree by its
multiple stems and lower
height, usually less
than 5–6 m (15–20 ft) tall. A large number of plants can be either
shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they
experience. Small, low shrubs such as
lavender,
periwinkle and
thyme are often termed
subshrubs.
An area of
cultivated shrubs in a
park or
garden is known
as a
shrubbery. When clipped as
topiary, shrubs generally have dense
foliage and many small leafy
branches growing close together. Many shrubs respond
well to renewal
pruning, in which hard
cutting back to a '
stool' results in
long new
stems known as "canes". Other
shrubs respond better to selective pruning to reveal their
structure and character.
Shrubs in common garden practice are generally
broad-leaved plants, though some smaller
conifers such as
Mountain Pine and
Common Juniper are also shrubby in structure.
Shrubs can be either
deciduous or
evergreen.
Shrubs as a botanical structural form
In botany and
ecology a shrub is more
specifically used to describe the particular
physical structural or
plant life-form of woody plants which are
less than 8 m high and usually have many stems arising at or near
the base.
For example, a descriptive system widely adopted in
Australia is based on structural characteristics
based on life-form, plus the height and amount of foliage cover of
the tallest layer or
dominant
species.
For shrubs 2–8 m high the following structural forms are
categorized:
- dense foliage cover (70–100%) — closed-scrub
- mid-dense foliage cover (30–70%) — open-scrub
- sparse foliage cover (10–30%) — tall shrubland
- very sparse foliage cover (<10%) —="" tall open
shrubland
For shrubs less than 2 m high the following structural forms are
categorized:
- dense foliage cover (70–100%) — closed-heath
- mid-dense foliage cover (30–70%) — open-heath
- sparse foliage cover (10–30%) — low shrubland
- very sparse foliage cover (<10%) —="" low open
shrubland
List of shrubs (bushes)
Those marked * can also develop into tree form.
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
|
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
|
- P
- Q
- R
- S
- T
- U
- V
- W
- X
- Y
- Z
|
References
- Costermans, L. F. (1993) Native trees and shrubs of
South-Eastern Australia. rev. ed. ISBN 0947116761
See also