chamiso

American  

[shuh-mee-zoh, chuh-] / ʃəˈmi zoʊ, tʃə- /

Also chamiza

noun

plural

chamisos

1. a saltbush, Atriplex canescens, of the western U.S. and Mexico, having grayish, scurfy foliage.

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Etymology

Origin of chamiso

Borrowed into English from Mexican Spanish around 1840–50

Example Sentences

Several species of oak are found upon the hillsides and in the valleys, while mingled with them in many places appear such shrubs as the California lilac, chamiso, and manzanita.

From The Western United States A Geographical Reader by Fairbanks, Harold W. (Harold Wellman)

On the Sierra the underbrush is characterized by the pungent manzanita, the California buckeye and the chamiso; the last two growing equally abundantly on the Coast Range.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 1 "Calhoun" to "Camoens" by Various

To the southward is Paradise Valley, a plain desert strewn with greasewood and chamiso; and down in the floor of Death Valley is, or rather was, Greenland.

From Wealth of the World's Waste Places and Oceania by Gilson, Jewett Castello