Herbs, shrubs and trees

Your book sorts plants into herbs, shrubs and trees by three things: their height, their type of stem, and where their branches start. It looks at a mango, a rose and a tomato.

Trees grow really tall. Their stems are hard, thick, brown and woody. Try to bend a tree trunk: it will not bend, it would break first. Their branches usually start high up on the stem, away from the ground. The mango is a tree (so is the neem).

Shrubs are of medium height, about as tall as a person. They often have many brown, woody stems that start branching very close to the ground. The stems are hard, but not as thick as a tree's. The rose is a shrub. Leave out height and this is the easiest way to tell a shrub from a tree: branches near the ground.

Herbs are usually small, with soft, green, tender stems that bend easily. The tomato is a herb.

Two more kinds:

• Climbers have weak stems that need support to climb and grow upwards.
• Creepers creep along the ground. Pumpkins and watermelons are creepers: a weak stem could never hold up such heavy fruit.