chaparral

chap·ar·ral  (shp-rl)

n.

1. Ecology A biome characterized by hot dry summers and cool moist winters and dominated by a dense growth of mostly small-leaved evergreen shrubs, as that found in the foothills of California.

2. A dense thicket of shrubs and small trees.

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[Spanish, from chaparro, evergreen oak, from Basque txapar, diminutive of saphar, thicket.]

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

chaparral - dense vegetation consisting of stunted trees or bushes scrub, bush botany, flora, vegetation - all the plant life in a particular region or period; "Pleistocene vegetation"; "the flora of southern California"; "the botany of China"