chaparral pea

noun

1. a spiny bush, Pickeringia montana, of the legume family, having large purple flowers and sometimes forming dense thickets in the Pacific coast regions of the United States.

chaparral pea

noun

1. a thorny leguminous Californian shrub, Pickeringia montana, with reddish-purple showy flowers

Word History and Origins

Origin of chaparral pea¹

An Americanism dating back to 1905–10

Example Sentences

Upon wild mountain-slopes where are heard the fluting notes of a certain shy bird that rarely comes near habitations, the chaparral pea often makes dense, impenetrable thickets.

From Project Gutenberg