| Abstract from DBPedia | A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple stems and shorter height, less than 6–10 m (20–33 ft) tall. Small shrubs, less than 2 m (6.6 ft) tall are sometimes termed as subshrubs. Many botanical groups have species that are shrubs, and others that are trees and herbaceous plants instead. Some definitions state that a shrub is less than 6 m (20 ft) and a tree is over 6 m. Others use 10 m (33 ft) as the cut-off point for classification. Many species of tree may not reach this mature height because of hostile less than ideal growing conditions, and resemble a shrub-sized plant. However, such species have the potential to grow taller under the ideal growing conditions for that plant. In terms of longevity, most shrubs fit in a class between perennials and trees; some may only last about five years even in good conditions, others, usually the larger and more woody ones, may live to 70 or more, but on average they last 7–10 years. Shrubland is the natural landscape dominated by various shrubs; there are many distinct types around the world, including fynbos, maquis, shrub-steppe, shrub swamp and moorland. In gardens and parks, an area largely dedicated to shrubs (now somewhat less fashionable than a century ago) is called a shrubbery, shrub border or shrub garden. There are many garden cultivars of shrubs, bred for flowering, for example rhododendrons, and sometimes even leaf colour or shape. Compared to trees and herbaceous plants, perhaps a relatively small number of shrubs have agricultural or commercial uses. Apart from the several berry-bearing species (using the culinary rather than botanical definition), few are eaten directly, and they are generally too small for much timber use unlike trees. Those that are used include several perfumed species such as lavender and rose, and a wide range of plants with medicinal uses. Tea and coffee are on the tree-shrub boundary; they are normally harvested from shrub-sized plants, but these would be large enough to become small trees if left to grow instead.低木（ていぼく）（英: shrub, bush）とは、樹木の便宜的な区分の1つである。一般的には、高さ2–3メートル (m) 以下の木本であり、ふつう基部で分枝して主幹が明瞭ではない。灌木、潅木（かんぼく）、ブッシュともよばれる。森林においては、を形成する。例として、ハイマツやナンテン、ノイバラ、アジサイ、アオキなどがある。 低木に対する用語は高木である。また高さや木化の程度に基づいて亜低木（半低木）や矮性低木（小低木）を分けることもある。ただしこれらの区分はおおよそであり、また定義も一定していないため、同一植物が異なる区分に分類されることもある。 (Source: http://dbpedia.org/resource/Shrub) |
