Orlah, Chapter 3b: Intermediate Plant Classification as Vegetables or Trees

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Orlah, Chapter 3b: 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, p. 133

Fruit/Vegetable	Halachic Class	Reason
Artichoke	Vegetable	Grows back from the root
Babaco	Doubt whether fruit or vegetable[1]	Perennial plant, but its trunk is hollow. Bears fruit within a year
Banana	Vegetable	Grows back from the root
Blueberries	Tree	Perennial shrub
Eggplant	Vegetable	Does not last for three years. Yield decreases
Goji berry	Doubt whether fruit or vegetable	Perennial plant but bears fruit within a year
Golden berries	Doubt whether fruit or vegetable	Perennial plant but bears fruit within a year
Hot pepper	Vegetable	Does not last for three years. Yield decreases
Papaya	Doubt whether fruit or vegetable	Perennial plant, but its trunk is hollow. Bears fruit within a year
Passionfruit	Doubt whether fruit or vegetable[2]	Perennial plant but bears fruit within a year
Pineapples	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[3]
Pitaya	Fruit	Perennial
Raspberry	Vegetable	Grows back from the root
Sabra	Tree	Perennial
Strawberry	Vegetable	Grows back from the root
Sudanese pepper[4]	Doubt whether fruit or vegetable	Perennial plant but bears fruit within a year

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 Torah 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'adama, since bedi'avad this blessing covers fruit that grows on trees – Shulchan Aruch OC §206:1 (since trees grow in the ground)..

[2] 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.

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

[4] 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.