Intermediate Plant Classification as Vegetables or Trees

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Intermediate Plant Classification as Vegetables or Trees

While most plants fall into neat categories as trees or vegetables, some are on the seam and have characteristics of both. This chart classifies such intermediate plants, which has bearing on the laws of orlah, berachot and kila’im. Hilchot Ha'aretz, 133.

Rabbi Yoel Friedemann


Fruit/Vegetable	Scientific Name	Halachic Class	Reason
Artichoke	Cynara cardunculus	Vegetable	Grows back from the root.
Babaco	Carica pentagona	Doubt whether fruit or vegetable.[1]	Perennial with a hollow trunk; bears fruit within a year.
Banana	Musa	Vegetable	Grows back from the root.
Blackberry	Rubus eubatus and Rubus sanctum	Vegetable	Grows back from the root.
Blueberry	Vaccinium sect. Cyanococcus	Tree	Perennial
Boysenberry	Rubus ursinus x R. idaeus	Vegetable	Hybrid between European raspberry, European blackberry, American dewberry, and loganberry.
Cranberry	Vaccinium oxycoccus	Doubt whether fruit or vegetable.	Perennial but grows back from the root. Does not bear fruit within a year, but is shorter than 3 tefachim.
Eggplant	Solanum melongena	Vegetable	Does not last for three years; yield decreases.
Goji berry	Lycium barbarum and Lycium chinense	Doubt whether fruit or vegetable	Perennial but bears fruit within a year.
Golden berry (Cape gooseberry, Inca berry, Physalis)	Physalis peruviana	Doubt whether fruit or vegetable	Perennial but bears fruit within a year.
Hot pepper (Chili pepper)	Capsicum annuum	Vegetable	Does not last for three years; yield decreases.
Loganberry	Rubus loganobaccus	Vegetable	Hybrid between blackberry and raspberry.
Mint	Mentha	Vegetable	Grows back from the root.[2]
Monk fruit (Luo han guo)	Siraitia grosvenorii	Doubt whether fruit or vegetable	Perennial but bears fruit within a year.
Papaya	Carica papaya	Doubt whether fruit or vegetable	Perennial with a hollow trunk; bears fruit within a year.
Passionfruit	Passiflora edulis	Doubt whether fruit or vegetable[3]	Perennial but bears fruit within a year.
Pineapples	Ananas comosus	Vegetable	Grows back from the base of the plant and sometimes from the trunk, produces fruit in its second year, exists for three to four years abroad (Hawaii), and diminishes in quality and quantity from year to year.[4]
Pitahaya (Dragon fruit)	Hylocereus undatus	Fruit	Perennial
Raspberry	Rubus idaeus	Vegetable	Grows back from the root.
Sabra (Prickly pear)	Opuntia ficus-indica	Tree	Perennial
Strawberry	Fragaria × ananassa	Vegetable	Grows back from the root.
Sudanese pepper	See note[5]	Doubt whether fruit or vegetable	Perennial but bears fruit within a year.
Tayberry	Rubus fruticosus x R. idaeus	Vegetable	Hybrid between raspberry and blackberry.
Tree collard, (Collard, Tree kale, Walking stick collard)	Brassica oleracea	Vegetable	Can be perennial and can grow tall, yet mentioned in the Gemara as a vegetable.

See: Orlah, Chapter 3a: What is a tree?

For additional information, see Hilchot Ha'aretz (Heb.), pp. 130–132. Also see the comprehensive article by Rabbi Yoel Friedemann "Defining trees and vegetables in halacha" in Hatorah VeHa'aretz III (5757) (Heb.); and his dissertation, "The development of the definition of trees and vegetables from Tana'itic literature through 17^th-century halachic decisors" Tevet 5766, master's thesis for the Department of Talmud and Oral Law, Bar Ilan University (Heb.).

[1] In cases of doubt, one should make the blessing borei peri ha'adamah, since bedi'avad this blessing covers fruit that grows on trees (as trees grow in the ground; Shulchan Aruch, OC §206:1).

[2] The orlah prohibition does not apply to herbs. See Chapter 1 §F.‎5.

[3] When planting passionfruit as a living fence, even those who are stringent about orlah may eat the fruit, even if the secondary purpose is to partake in the fruit. See Chapter 4, §A.‎3.

[4] Chelkat HaSadeh, Zera’im I (5759) pp. 72–74 (Heb.).

[5] Sudanese pepper (pilpel sudani, as it is known in Hebrew), is not a scientific genus but rather the popular moniker in Israel for certain types of local hot peppers (generally sold as dry hot red peppers). Other commercially sold hot peppers significantly decrease in quality and quantity of yield from year to year. However, certain cultivars of hot pepper ("sudani") are used in domestic settings, some as decorative plants, and their yield is consistent and does not diminish from year to year. In such cases, the plant has questionable status.