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Shrubbery - Definition and Overview |
| Related Words: Bed, Border, Bracken, Brake, Bramble, Brier, Bush, Coppice, Copse, Garden, Hedgerow, Hedging, Herbarium |
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- The word "bush" re-directs here; for alternate uses see Bush (disambiguation). "Shrub" is also a derogatory nickname for United States President George W Bush.
A shrub or bush is a horticultural rather than strictly botanical category of woody plant, distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and lower height, usually less than 6 m 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.
The word bush can also refer to a type of plant community, as in the Australian bush. This is often characterised by scrubby, open woodland and is a generic term for Eucalyptus dominated woodland in particular.
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.
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.
 Common Broom ( Cytisus scoparius) List of Shrubs
Very incomplete! Those marked * can also develop into tree form.
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