shrub
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- Clemson Cooperative Extension - Home and Garden Information Center - Planting Shrubs Correctly
- National Center for Biotechnology Information - PubMed Central - Shrub growth and plant diversity along an elevation gradient: Evidence of indirect effects of climate on alpine ecosystems
- University of Maryland Extension - Planting a Tree or Shrub
- Virginia Cooperative Extension - Shrubs: Functions, Planting, and Maintenance
- Oklahoma State University Extension - Planting Trees and Shrubs
- Frontiers - Why Be a Shrub? A Basic Model and Hypotheses for the Adaptive Values of a Common Growth Form
- Royal Horticultural Society - Shrubs
shrub, any woody plant that has several stems, none dominant, and is usually less than 3 m (10 feet) tall. When much-branched and dense, it may be called a bush. Intermediate between shrubs and trees are arborescences, or treelike shrubs, from 3 to 6 m tall. Trees are generally defined as woody plants more than 6 m tall, having a dominant stem, or trunk, and a definite crown shape. These distinctions are not reliable, however, for there are some shrubs, such as lilacs and honeysuckles, that, under especially favourable environmental conditions, grow to the size of an arborescence or even a small tree. Some specimens of a plant species may take a tree form, whereas others, under different conditions, may assume a shrub or arborescent form—e.g., sumacs, willows, and spruces.