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Step 1
Take a close look at the leaf of the shrub to determine if the plant is a conifer or flowering plant. This is a very simple task, for conifers have needles instead of leaves, though there are a few flowering plants with a leaf that might slightly resemble a needle. Continue your investigation by looking at the reproductive part of the plant to see if it is a cone or a flower. For this task, we will concentrate on the identification of flowering plants, but there are many different species of conifers that one might growing as a shrub in residential or business neighborhoods. Identification of these plants is also important.
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Step 2
Look at the flowering plant and learn to separate the monocots from the dicots. To do this all you have to do is look at the leaf. If the the leaf veins run parallel, the plant is a monocot (such as grasses, lilies, palms, orchids, and so forth). A leaf with lines or veins that meet is a dicot. Again, there is a large group that is difficult to tell apart here, and that is the grasses. Fortunately, we are only dealing with shrubs, so we will likely be looking at a lot of dicotylean flowering plants and also some conifers.
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Step 3
Use leaf arrangement, flower anatomy and general plant characteristics to identify the shrub to its proper plant family (such as rose, mallow, oak, pea, maple alder, and so on). This is the major concern of identifying shrubs. If you can recognize the family that the shrub is a part of, your task is close to complete. Leaf arrangement is most helpful and so this should be your next major observation. Here, you will need to note if the leave opposite or alternate, simple or compound, lobed or non-lobed and with or without a serrated leaf edge. A guidebook helps if the shrub is local in origin, but since a cultivated plant had have its origins anywhere in the world, more information is often needed.
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Step 4
Learn what plants are currently being sold and planted.in the locale where you live. The best way to do this is to go to a local greenhouse and then observe and ask questions about the various plants. It is important to know how to spot the popular variations of roses, laurels, rhododendrons, blueberries and whatever else that are planted in the neighborhoods where you live.
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Step 5
Attempt to identify the plant to species. At first this will have to be done with the aid of a dichotomous key, but over time such learning aids will become less necessary.
