creosote bush

plural creosote bushes

1. countableuncountableA common North American desert shrub used as a medicinal herb, Larrea tridentata.

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   The hills were of conical form, piled upon each other; one of them with a cap of trap; all seemed to be solid basalt thrust up from beneath; a very few cedars and other shrubs; several large kinds of caste and grass tuft between the rocks was all the vegetation, the grass growing finest on the north side of the hill. Having passed this rocky barrier, we find the grass scarce; the hills are green with the creosote bush; and, from this on to California, we may count upon but scanty picking for our poor animals. It is not improbable that in the volcanic convulsions which gave this country a form, some mephistic [mephitic] substance was produced in quantities to poison the soil for vegetation. This creosote plant shows something; and a shower of rain which fell upon us, although very slight, made the atmosphere smell of some vile gas. […] The vegetation on the jornada is the creosote bush, the mesquite, the Fremontia, and occasionally patches of thin grass, mostly on the higher lands of it; a few willows grew on the dry stream, where we found the second well.

   1848, W.H. Emory, Thirtieth Congress—First Session. Ex. Doc. No. 41. Notes of a Military Reconnoissance, from Fort Leavenworth, in Missouri, to San Diego, California, Including Part of the Arkansas, Del Norte, and Gila Rivers. By Lieut. Col. W.H. Emory. Made in 1846-7, With the Advanced Guard of the "Army of the West.", pages 583 and 612

   Synonyms: creosote, greasewood, chaparral