It is often believed that savannas feature widely spaced, scattered trees. Savannas maintain an open canopy despite a high tree density. According to Britannica, there exists four savanna forms savanna woodland where trees and shrubs form a light canopy, tree savanna with scattered trees and shrubs, shrub savanna with distributed shrubs, and grass savanna where trees and shrubs are mostly nonexistent. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to support an unbroken herbaceous layer consisting primarily of grasses. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. For other uses, see Savannah (disambiguation).Ī tree savanna in Tanzania, East Africa ( Tarangire National Park) A grass savannah in South Africa ( Kruger National Park)Ī savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland- grassland (i.e.