saltbush

[ sawlt-boosh ]

noun

1. any of various plants or shrubs of the genus Atriplex, having mostly alternate leaves and clusters of inconspicuous flowers, often growing in saline or alkaline soil.

saltbush

/ ˈsɔːltˌbʊʃ /

noun

1. any of various chenopodiaceous shrubs of the genus Atriplex that grow in alkaline desert regions

Word History and Origins

Origin of saltbush¹

1860–65; salt ¹ + bush ¹, so called because they thrive in saline or alkaline soils

Example Sentences

Surrounded by oil fields and almond and orange groves, the 93,000-acre preserve is an ecological oasis of open grasslands, saltbush shrubs, riparian wetlands, and native plants and wildlife.

From Washington Post

The silvery panels looked like an interloper amid a patchwork landscape of lush almond groves, barren brown dirt and saltbush scrub, framed by the blue-green strip of the California Aqueduct bringing water from the north.

From Los Angeles Times

In the east, the sky glowed orange and crimson, and the light illuminated a sea of saltbushes, sweet grass and wind-rippled dunes.

From New York Times

A traditional smoking ceremony, with green gum-leaves burned over a small fire, welcomed the remains back to the red soil and saltbush scrub of Lake Mungo.

From Reuters

Route 50 in a mountain-ringed valley studded with saltbush, Silver Springs sits about an hour from the neon of Reno and even less from the state capitol building in Carson City.

From Washington Post