Re: "Subshrub"
- Subject: Re: "Subshrub"
- From: L* R*
- Date: Tue, 30 Apr 2002 09:29:06 -0700 (PDT)
Properly, a subshrub is woody only at the base. That is, with herbaceous
shoots that persist only one season coming from a perennial woody,
above-ground base. So it's not synonymous with "small shrub" or "dwarf
shrub", although nursery catalogs tend to merge these usages. Something
like lavandula or would be a true shrub, I believe.
A good example of a true subshrub would be Phlox speciosa, native to
southern Oregon and northwestern California.
loren russell, corvallis, oregon
On Mon, 29 Apr 2002, Joe Seals wrote:
> In my last post, I was made to realilze that I used a
> term with which many gardeners aren't familiar.
>
> It's "subshrub".
>
> I'm sure it's not a botanical appropriate term but
> it's a term I found probably coined by an old
> horticulturist whose name I can't remember.
>
> It was his way of distinquishing those mostly smaller
> plants which develop a somewhat woody base for us here
> in California but not for those in more northerly
> climes.
>
> For example, Leonotis, most Lavandula, Cuphea, etc.
>
> Others may call the smaller of these "shrublets".
>
> Has anyone else bumped into this and can add to the
> philosophical connotation?
>
> Joe
>
> =====
> Joe Seals
> Santa Maria, California --
> where the weather is always perfect
> and my garden always has something blooming
> and birds galore
>
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