Dead Bush

Dead Shrubs are blocks that were added in Beta 1.6, and should not be confused with Tall Grass, though a non-naturally-occurring variant of Tall Grass looks visually identical to Dead Shrubs. Shrubs are not a solid block, but rather an aesthetic weed that does not block movements, like Sugar Cane, Wheat and Tall Grass.

Dead Shrubs will only spawn on Sand blocks in desert biomes, and do not produce any resources when broken. They will only spawn in chunks generated after 1.6 is installed.

The dead shrub texture seems to be a sapling with its leaves removed.

Trivia

 * Dead Shrubs can only be harvested by using an Inventory Editor.
 * Dead Shrubs will not produce any useful resource.