chaparral

noun chap·ar·ral \ˌsha-pə-ˈral, -ˈrel\

: an area of dry land especially in southern California that is covered with bushes and short trees

Full Definition of CHAPARRAL

: a thicket of dwarf evergreen oaks; broadly : a dense impenetrable thicket of shrubs or dwarf trees

: an ecological community composed of shrubby plants adapted to dry summers and moist winters that occurs especially in southern California

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Spanish, from chaparro dwarf evergreen oak, from Basque txapar

First Known Use: 1845

Synonyms: boscage (also boskage), bosk (or bosque), bosquet, brake, brushwood, thicket, coppice, copse, covert

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