Lavandula stoechas in the context of "Subshrub"

A subshrub (Latin suffrutex), undershrub, or shrublet is either a small shrub (e.g. prostrate shrubs) or a perennial that is largely herbaceous but slightly woody at the base (e.g. garden pink and florist's chrysanthemum). The term is often interchangeable with "bush".

Because the criteria are matters of degree (typically height) rather than kind, the definition of a subshrub is not sharply distinguishable from that of a shrub; examples of reasons for describing plants as subshrubs include ground-hugging stems or a low growth habit. Subshrubs may be largely herbaceous, although still classified as woody, with overwintering perennial woody growth that is much lower-growing than the deciduous summer growth. Some plants described as subshrubs are only weakly woody, and some persist for only a few years at most. Others, such as Oldenburgia paradoxa, live indefinitely (though they are still vulnerable to external effects), rooted in rocky cracks.