saltbush

American  

[sawlt-boosh] / ˈsɔltˌbʊʃ /

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.

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saltbush British  

/ ˈsɔːltˌbʊʃ /

noun

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

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Etymology

Origin of saltbush

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

Example Sentences

There’s evidence that buckwheat and bush sunflower can take up lead, and saltbush can ensnare arsenic, Fang said, also name-checking corn, squash and cucumber for their ability to sequester contaminants such as dioxins.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 23, 2025

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 • Feb. 23, 2022

The backdrop to an area of coal-fired power stations, lead smelting and mining, the coastal landscape is spiked with saltbush that can live on a trickle of brackish seawater seeping up through the arid soil.

From The Guardian • Nov. 24, 2012

It moved here, to remote ranchlands where even the plant names — catclaw, saltbush, snakeweed — sound forbidding.

From Time • Jun. 4, 2010

At the edge of the dry riverbed, in a thicket of saltbush not far from where they had parked, a large object was concealed beneath a dun-colored tarpaulin.

From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer