chamiso

[ shuh-mee-zoh, chuh- ]

noun

, plural cha·mi·sos.

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of chamiso¹

Borrowed into English from Mexican Spanish around 1840–50

Example Sentences

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 Project Gutenberg

The chamiso and the manzanita, with a variety of shrubby oaks and thorny plants, often grow together in a dense and sometimes quite impenetrable undergrowth, forming what is known as “chaparral”; if the chamiso occurs alone the thicket is a “chamisal.”

From Project Gutenberg

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 Project Gutenberg

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 Project Gutenberg

Chamiso and Guiamard have recently thrown great light on the formation of the coral islands in the Pacific.

From Project Gutenberg