What does forb mean?
A forb is any herbaceous flowering plant that is not a grass, sedge, or rush — in practice, the broad-leaved wildflowers and weeds of meadows, prairies, forests, and rangelands. The term belongs mainly to the vocabulary of ecology, botany, and range management, where scientists find it useful to sort low-growing vegetation into functional groups: graminoids (grasses and grass-like plants) versus forbs. A lupine, a dandelion, and a milkweed are all forbs, despite being unrelated as species, because they share the defining traits of soft, non-woody tissue and broad leaves. Land managers pay close attention to forbs because their abundance signals rangeland health, and because many provide critical food for pollinators and wildlife. Though unfamiliar to most laypeople, the word is increasingly seen in gardening and conservation writing about native-plant landscapes, where restoring a diverse community of grasses and forbs is a central goal.
nounA forb is a herbaceous flowering plant that is not a grass, sedge, rush, or woody plant — essentially any broad-leaved, non-woody plant of the ground layer. The term is used chiefly in ecology and range management.
- Any herbaceous (non-woody) flowering plant other than a grass, sedge, or rush, especially as a category in ecology, botany, and range management.
"The prairie's spring flora was rich in forbs such as lupine and shooting star."
"Ranchers monitor the mix of grasses and forbs to judge the health of their rangeland."
"Monarch butterflies depend on milkweed, a common forb of North American prairies."
The standard plural; the word typically appears in plural form since it denotes a whole category of plants.
"Drought reduced both the grasses and the forbs across the preserve."
Every wildflower you love on a hike is probably a forb — botanists needed a word for everything that isn't a grass, and this one stuck.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of forb
The word 'forb' derives from the Greek 'phorbē', meaning pasture or fodder, related to the Greek verb for grazing or feeding. It entered English scientific vocabulary in the twentieth century through American range-management literature, where researchers needed a compact term for non-graminoid herbaceous plants. Its origin in a word for livestock feed reflects its practical roots: early range scientists categorized vegetation by what cattle and sheep would eat.
How forb is actually used
'Forb' is primarily a technical term used by ecologists, botanists, land managers, and gardeners interested in native plants; it is rare in casual conversation. It functions as a collective category rather than naming a single species, so it usually appears in plural contexts ('the forbs of the tallgrass prairie'). It carries no strong connotation — neutral and descriptive.
Easily confused with forb
'Fore' means situated at or toward the front (as in 'the fore of a ship'), while 'forb' is a non-grass herbaceous plant.