Difference Between Herbs and Shrubs (With Examples)

The difference between herbs and shrubs lies mainly in their stems. Herbs are small plants with soft, green, non-woody stems. Shrubs are medium-height plants with hard, woody stems that branch close to the ground. Tomato is a herb; rose is a shrub.

Herbs and shrubs are two of the plant forms that make up natural vegetation, the plant cover that grows without human help. To see where they fit among forests, grasslands, scrub and tundra, start with our guide to natural vegetation and its types. This page compares the two forms side by side.

Herbs vs shrubs: comparison table

The NCERT Class 6 science book Curiosity (Chapter 2, “Diversity in the Living World”) groups plants by three things: height, type of stem and branching pattern. The table uses those features first and then adds a few more.

In the table, “FSI” means the Forest Survey of India. Its India State of Forest Report 2023 (ISFR 2023) gives the height limits in its glossary. The word “usually” matters: these are guide figures, not strict rules.

What is a herb?

A herb is a small plant with a soft, green stem. NCERT’s Curiosity describes herbs as plants that are “typically small with soft and green stems”. Its example is the tomato plant.

The Forest Survey of India defines a herb as a plant with no persistent stem above ground; its stem is non-woody. Persistent here means lasting from year to year as a hard, woody stem. ISFR 2023 adds that a herb is usually not taller than 1 metre. The Australian National Herbarium puts it in even fewer words: in a herb, “no woody tissue” is present.

Features of herbs

• The stem is green because it contains chlorophyll and can make some food.
• The stem is tender and bends without snapping.
• Most herbs are short, so they form the lowest layer of vegetation.
• Many herbs, such as wheat and mustard, finish their life in one season.

Common herbs include tomato, wheat, rice, mint, coriander, mustard and marigold. In botany, “herb” means any soft-stemmed plant. In the kitchen, “herb” means a plant used for flavour or medicine. These two meanings overlap but are not the same.

What is a shrub?

A shrub is a woody plant that is shorter than a tree and branches near its base. NCERT says shrubs often have many brown woody stems that start branching very close to the ground. These stems are hard but thinner than a tree trunk. NCERT’s example is the rose.

ISFR 2023 describes a shrub as a woody perennial plant. A perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. The report says a shrub differs from a perennial herb because its stem is woody and lasts. It differs from a tree in its low build, its branching from the base and a height usually not over 3 metres.

Features of shrubs

• Stems are hard, brown and woody.
• Several stems rise from near the ground, so the plant looks bushy.
• Shrubs live for many years.
• They form the middle layer of vegetation, between herbs and trees.

NCERT’s Class 3 book names hibiscus, rose, tulsi and curry leaf as shrubs. Henna, oleander and lantana are other common examples. In India’s forest reports, scrub means forest land with canopy density below 10%, generally with shrubs scattered among the trees.

How are herbs and shrubs similar?

Herbs and shrubs differ in stem and height, but they share a lot.

• Both are green plants that make their own food by photosynthesis.
• Both are smaller than trees.
• Both can be flowering plants with roots, stems, leaves, flowers and seeds.
• Both feed and shelter insects, birds and grazing animals.
• Both cover the soil and help to reduce erosion.
• Both are part of the natural vegetation of forests, grasslands and scrub.

To revise trees alongside these two groups, see our chart of herbs, shrubs and trees with examples. Plants with weak stems that need support form separate groups, explained in creepers and climbers.

Is grass a herb or a shrub?

NCERT’s Class 3 chapter “Getting to Know Plants” answers in one line: “Grasses are types of herbs.” It notes that grasses have soft, green stems and long, thin, flat leaves. Grass is not a shrub, because shrubs have woody stems and most grasses do not. Oregon State University’s forage course explains that grasses are “mostly herbaceous (not woody)” monocots with jointed stems. Herbaceous means soft and non-woody, like a herb. The University of Illinois Extension also lists grass among its examples of herbaceous plants.

So, in school biology, it is correct to say grass is a herbaceous plant. Be aware that some botanical lists keep grasses in a group of their own. The Australian National Herbarium, for example, lists “grass, sedge, rush or graminoid” separately from “herb”. A graminoid is a grass or a grass-like plant.

NCERT’s Curiosity uses common grass as an example of a plant with a soft, thin stem, parallel venation and fibrous roots. The word “mostly” in the Oregon State description matters. NCERT calls sugarcane and bamboo tall grasses, and bamboo stems become hard.

What is the difference between a shrub and a bush?

The two words are often used loosely, as if they mean the same thing. Both describe a woody plant, shorter than a tree, with many stems from near the ground. NCERT itself uses both words. Its Class 6 book describes students on a nature walk seeing “grasses, bushes, and large trees”. Its Class 3 book calls shrubs “bushy-looking plants”. In both books, shrub is the formal group name.

The botanical sources used for this page define “shrub” but give no separate definition of “bush”. These sources are the Forest Survey of India glossary and the Australian National Herbarium’s growth-form list. We could not find an official or university source that draws a clear line between the two words. So the safe answer is this: in exams and science writing, use “shrub”; treat “bush” as an everyday word for a dense, many-stemmed shrub.

Even the word “shrub” has no single height limit. ISFR 2023 says a shrub is usually not over 3 metres. The Australian National Herbarium says a shrub is usually less than 8 metres tall, with more than one stem. Both agree on the main features: a woody plant that branches at or near the ground.

Are there plants between herbs and shrubs?

Yes. Nature does not always fit neat boxes. The Australian National Herbarium describes a sub-shrub as shrub-like, but with stems that are soft in their upper parts. These soft parts die back in harsh conditions.

Some plants also confuse students. Tulsi is often called a herb because people use its leaves in home remedies, but NCERT groups it as a shrub. NCERT’s Curiosity even sets an exercise where one student argues that hibiscus is a shrub. It asks what questions a friend could ask to check the claim. The lesson is to look at the stem, height and branching before deciding.