Plant Identifier

Shrub Identifier

Identify shrubs, use customizable lists, and learn how to care for each particular species.

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Shrubs are a category of perennial woody plants differentiated from trees by their smaller height and multiple stems. A shorter life span is another trait of shrubs. Many unrelated species fall into this class, making shrub identification so intricate.

The value of shrubs in gardening relies on the species: they can be flowering, berry-bearing, evergreen with luxuriant foliage, or appropriate for beautiful landscape designs. Want to learn how to identify shrubs? Stay plantuned and continue reading!
What Kind of Bush Is This
Once you come across a miniature woody plant that might be either an immature tree or a grown bush. To comprehend for sure, you need to scrutinize the plant as follows. Inspect unique botanical features:
- Look at the leaf shape and color.
- Touch the leaves to know if they are soft or rough, glossy or velvet, etc.
- Inspect branches and how buds and leaves are growing.
- Look at the bark color and its texture.
- Observe the habitat (forest, moorland, shrubland, steppe, etc.).
- Find out if the shrub has flowers, seeds, or thorns.
Easy Identifying Characteristics
The most meticulous way to identify a bush is to study its leaves, flowers, thorns, and fruit altogether. But usually, plants blossom during spring and early summer and fruit in late summer or fall. The only reliable way is to analyze the foliage. Here is what you need to look at:

Identification by Leaf

Leaves can be simple or compound. The latter has several leaflets on a common petiole with a single leaf bud. Leaves can grow in opposite or alternate patterns and have smooth, lobbed, or toothed edges. Every leaf has veins that may have a distinguishable look in different species.

Berry Bush ID

Most leafy bushes have berries, like viburnum, ivy, dog rose, and others. Berries vary in size, shape, and color. They can grow one by one or in a bunch. Berries can have one or many seeds, have an integral structure like blueberry, or consist of fruitlets like raspberry.

Thorn Bush Identification

Some bushes like roses, bougainvillea, and blackberry have thorns. Their presence dramatically facilitates identification since the thorns are another feature that narrows the circle of possible options.
How to Identify Specific Shrubs with Myplantin
Nowadays, comparing shrubs with dozens of reference pictures from botanic textbooks isn’t the only method. Myplantin is a free shrub identification tool that can recognize most species of plants from all continents. Here’s how bush identification functions:
- Download the app.
- Open it and take a picture of the plant. The image should not be blurry or too dark. In such a case, our app won’t be able to see the botanical identification attributes.
- Once you have results, compare the bush and the picture in Myplantin shrub identifier app to see if it’s correct.
- Repeat the identification from another viewpoint if the results are not satisfying.
Shrub Identification Tips
Identifying a shrub might be a challenge seems many of the them look similar – fluffy and round. But don't worry, we are here to provide you with some useful pieces of advice on the topic!

Evergreen Bush and Shrubs

Unlike deciduous shrubs, evergreens don’t shed their leaves during winter. So it’s easy to identify evergreen shrubs during the cold season. This type subdivides into coniferous shrubs with needles of scales (like junipers) and leafy evergreens (for example, holly or boxwood).

Identifying coniferous bushes involves measuring the length of needles, their amount growing in one spot, and the total plant shape. If you deal with leafy evergreen plants, this process is the same as deciduous shrubs. To learn more about evergreen shrubs, follow the link to see the complete list. We have a lot to show you.

Landscape Shrubs

Shrubs used for landscaping are often evergreens like boxwood or cypress. So, inspect the leaves to identify them. Some other options are showy flowering bushes like roses or azalea. They can be identified by flowers too. You can read more about landscape shrubs by clicking the link.

Flowering Shrubs

As the name implies, flowering shrubs or bushes have flowers. Most species, except coniferous, can bloom in spring and early summer. After flowering, plants produce seed pods or fruit. If it’s not the season, you have to check the leaves. Follow the link to see the complete list of flowering shrubs.

Shrubs with Berries

Berries might hint you the species of your greenie. Pay attention to the color of the berries, their shape, and the way how they are placed on the branches.

The gardening world is so diverse that you always have something new to learn. Stay with Myplantin to stay up-to-date!

Shrub Identifier

What Kind of Bush Is This

Easy Identifying Characteristics

Identification by Leaf

Berry Bush ID

Thorn Bush Identification

How to Identify Specific Shrubs with Myplantin

Shrub Identification Tips

Evergreen Bush and Shrubs

Landscape Shrubs

Flowering Shrubs

Shrubs with Berries