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'Scrubland' is plant community characterized by scrub vegetation. "Scrub" consists of low shrubs, mixed with grasses, herbs, and geophytes. Scrublands are sometimes known as heathlands. Scrublands may be either naturally occurring or the result of human activity. They may be the mature vegetation type in a particular region and remain stable over time, or a transitional community that occurs temporarily as the result of a disturbance, such as a 'major fire'. Many people do not live in scrubland because of the fires that can easily occur.
'Xeric scrublands', or 'desert scrublands', occur in the world's Deserts and xeric shrublands ecoregions, or in areas of fast-draining sandy soils in more humid regions. These scrublands are characterized by plants with adaptations to the dry climate, which include small leaves to limit water loss, thorns to protect them from grazing animals, succulent leaves or stems, storage organs to store water, and long taproots to reach groundwater.
'Mediterranean scrublands' occur naturally in the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and shrub biomes, located in the five Mediterranean climate regions of the world. Scrublands are most common near the seacoast, and have often adapted to the wind and salt air of the ocean. Low, soft-leaved scrublands around the Mediterranean Basin are known as ''garrigue'' in France, ''phrygana'' in Greece, ''tomillares'' in Spain, and ''batha'' in Israel. Northern coastal scrub and coastal sage scrub occur along the California coast, strandveld in the Western Cape of South Africa, coastal matorral in the central Chile, and sand-heath and kwongan in Southwest Australia.
'Interior scrublands' occur naturally where the soils are poor, such as on the matos of Portugal which are underlain by Cambrian and Silurian schists.