What's the Difference Between Shrubs & Bushes?

There isn't much difference between shrubs and bushes except the name.

The Oxford University Press -- author of the Oxford dictionaries -- estimates there are more than 250,000 words in the English language. Of these, there are many which are synonyms, or different words that describe the same thing. While "shrub" and "bush" are often used distinctly, especially when using the name of specific plants, the difference between them is actually not as clear as it seems.

Deciduous Shrubs or Bushes

There are two basic kinds of shrubs or bushes. One kind, deciduous, is those that lose their leaves before winter every year and grow them back in the spring. While this separates many bushes into a single class, it does nothing to clearly define whether you should call certain plants bush or shrub. Knowing that a shrub is deciduous might help you figure out what kind of climate it prefers though, and it might help you decide if this is the kind of bush you want in your garden or on your lawn.

Evergreen Shrubs or Bushes

The second kind of shrub or bush is from the evergreen class and, like the name implies, these plants keep their leaves during the winter. Again, knowing that the shrub will have leaves year-round doesn't mean it can be defined as a shrub or bush necessarily, it just means you know it will stay green once it starts to get cold outside.

Common and Latin Names

Common names might, at first glance, seem to differentiate between bushes and shrubs. After all, a "Beauty Shrub" doesn't have the same ring to it as "Beauty Bush," so you would always say this is a bush. You wouldn't say a "lilac shrub" or a "rose shrub," it's always lilac bush or rose bush. But even the scientific Latin names for bushes and shrubs don't indicate there's any difference between certain plants. It's safe to say that though you might know a plant by a certain name, it doesn't mean there's a difference between a shrub and a bush.

Personal Preference

The biggest difference between shrubs and bushes all comes down to personal preference. Whether you call it a shrub, bush, plant or tree, it all depends on what you think it should be called. There may even be regional slang or dialects where you refer to certain bushes by certain names that no one else has heard of but there's nothing scientific about it.

References

• Oxford University Press: How Many Words Are There in the English Language?
• Utah State University Extension; A Shrub By Any Other Name Is A Bush; Dennis Hinkamp; August 1999
• Buyshrubszone.com: Shrub Types
• Buyshrubszone.com: Bushes and Shrubs Listed by Common Name