Gardening Plants & Flowers Herbs

Herbaceous Plants: Definition and Examples

Characteristics, types, and function

Annual and biannual flowers with yellow, orange, blue and white petals in garden

The Spruce / Evgeniya Vlasova

Herbaceous plants can be easily identified because they have non-woody stems. Their above-ground growth largely or totally dies back in winter in the temperate zone but they may have underground plant parts (roots, bulbs, etc.) that survive and hold reserves of food.

What Are Herbaceous Plants?

Herbaceous plants are plants with flexible, green stems with few to no woody parts. Herbaceous plants includes most annuals and biennials. However, many perennials are also considered to be herbaceous.

Technically, all annual plants are herbaceous, because an annual is a non-woody plant. Annuals take it a step further and die altogether at the end of their lone growing season, both above the ground and below it. Herbs, such as basil, dill, and cilantro are considered herbaceous annuals, as well.

However, perennials can also be considered herbaceous. An example of a herbaceous stem would be a peony, which is a perennial. The tree-like banana plant, also a perennial, is known as the largest herbaceous plant.

Biennials, likewise, lack woody stems, therefore they are also characterized as herbaceous. However, biennials such as foxglove and silver dollar plant maintain live, low-growing foliage above-ground during the winter (known as "basal leaves"). The question of whether a plant is herbaceous or not truly hinges on the presence or absence of woody stems, not necessarily on winter die-back.

Function of Herbaceous Plants

Herbaceous plants are important to ecosystems because they feed wildlife, help pollinators, improve water quality, and add interest to the landscape with their flowers and foliage.

Characteristics of Herbaceous Plants

Herbaceous plants have soft and flexible green stems, above-ground growth that dies back in the fall, and underground food storage parts like fleshy roots, tubers, rhizomes, bulbs, or corms. The life cycle of herbaceous plants is generally shorter than it is for woody plants.

Common Herbaceous Flowers for Landscaping

There are many common herbaceous flowers.

The following varieties are popular to use in the landscape:

Herbaceous Plants That Are Perennials

For Northerners, "perennials" and "herbaceous perennials" are almost synonymous. These are non-woody plants that die back to around ground level once cold temperatures return and survive the winter because of their underground plant parts. The following shortlist mentions several examples of herbaceous perennial plants:

Sub-Classes of Herbaceous Plants

There are various sub-classes of herbaceous perennials. Each sub-class is based on how a plant stores nutrients underground during the winter so they can retrieve those reserves once the weather warms up in the springtime and they can produce vegetation again.

While many people think these nutrients would be stored in the underground roots, some perennials have other underground structures that can store nutrients during the winter including:

Tip

Other smaller sub-categories of herbaceous plants without flowers include certain ferns, grasses, sedges, rushes, mosses, and even a couple of carnivorous plants.

Early spring garden planted with daffodils (Narcissus), pink tulips (Tulipa) and circular box hedge (Buxus), Millenium Garden, Lichfield, Staffordshire, UK (NGS)
Ron Evans / Getty Images

Herbaceous Plant Care in Northern Climates

Herbaceous perennials may die back to ground level, but that does not mean that they necessarily disappear. Some turn brown and hang around. Sometimes, their above-ground growth remains attractive, despite being dead.

If the plants are healthy, you can refrain from cutting them down until spring. Leaving the above-ground vegetation may even afford a bit of insulation to help the plant survive winter. Some examples of herbaceous perennials you can do this with include:

  • Joe-Pye weed (Eupatorium; adds architectural interest)
  • Coneflowers (Echinacea; wild birds eat the seeds)
  • Maiden grass (Miscanthus; its leaves turn a pretty straw color in the winter)

Just remember to supplement herbaceous plants in your winter landscape design with evergreen trees and shrubs, since the latter can offer more winter interest in the landscape.

Close-Up Of Coneflowers Blooming Outdoors
Karthikeyan Arumugam / Getty Images
FAQ
  • What does herbaceous mean in landscaping?

    Herbaceous means that plants with non-woody stems die back in the fall but typically return the next year. Herbaceous plants are desirable in the yard because they add visual interest and sustain themselves during the winter using their underground food storage systems.

  • What are the characteristics of an herbaceous plant?

    Herbaceous plants have stems that are soft and green. The stems usually die down to the ground every year.

  • What is the difference between a perennial and a herbaceous plant?

    A perennial plant is one that continues to grow for more than two years. These often feature flowers and can either have woody or non-woody stems. Herbaceous plants are ones that have non-woody stems. There are various types of herbaceous plants and some can actually be classified as perennial. Essentially, herbaceous refers to the structure of the plant while the term perennial refers to the lifespan of the plant.

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  1. Non-Woody Vascular Plants, Biodiversity of the Central Coast