Woody Plants

A woody plant is any vascular plant that produces large amounts of wood tissue during its lifetime. Woody plants produce this wood for protection and support as the result of secondary tissue growth. Both woody plants and herbs, the latter being the matching morphological category of vascular plants, can produce wood, but woody plants will produce a considerable amount more. They are known for their hard, dense wood tissue which reinforces and protects the tissue systems and thick layers created from cork and wood.

Woody plants include various trees and shrubs. Both gymnosperms and angiosperms can be woody plants, as well as monocots and eudicots. However, woody monocots do not produce secondary tissue as they lack vascular cambiums. Although they still produce wood, monocots will remain thin; examples of this include palm trees.