"Tex John" wrote:

Austin is interesting. I had a Japanese Red Maple; very pretty tree in a
very large pot. It sprouted new leaves in the Spring and grew from March
until May, went dormant for the blistering summer. Then, come August, it
would sprout all new beautiful red leaves and grow until November. Then go
back to sleep.

It is a tree so is herbaceous by definition. Perennial...comes back at least
once each year. Deciduous....drops its leaves. But what is it really?

The tree is not herbaceous, it is woody.

This behavior is not too unusual. On the west coast, many trees grow
only in the spring and fall. If you look at stumps, you see two growth
rings per year, one in spring and one in fall. This is caused because
the summer is very dry and the winter is very cold. Some trees loose
their leaves in some unusually dry summers and some don't. In any case
the correct term for them is:

tree or shrub

In some cases they are diciduous like oak and larch
and in other cases they are evergreen like rhododendron and fir.
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