saltbush
1
9.5
- noun
- /sɔltbʌʃ/
:
arbusto salino
- Investigators who studied the animal in the Great Basin Desert of the western United States in the 1970s discovered that it scrapes saltbush leaves against the lower incisors, thereby peeling away the crystalline layer of salt.
Examples
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The species was known to be a ratlike creature with a somewhat bushy-tipped tail, which presumably lived in saltbush areas near salt flats.
Academic text (2003) -
But for many years, ecologists thought it was the only mammal to have solved the riddle of living on the poisonous saltbush.
Academic text (2003) -
The two saltbush-eating species remained the only ones known to science until the 1990s.
Academic text (2003) -
The bundles act as an extra pair of upper incisors, enabling the animal to quickly strip salt off the surface of saltbush leaves.
Academic text (2003) -
It refused to feed on most of them, but when saltbush was offered, the creature quickly gobbled up the gray-green leaves.
Academic text (2003) -
The plant lacked the broad, grayish leaves of saltbush; instead, the leaves were compressed into small bluish-green balls, only slightly larger than BBs.
Academic text (2003) -
In other studies, Barrow found two populations of fourwing saltbush growing in New Mexico that reproduce asexually, which is another survival mechanism.
Academic text (1995) -
The saltbush can thrive in dry, alkaline soils, making it a resilient plant in arid regions.
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In the desert landscape, we noticed patches of saltbush growing among the rocks.
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The wildlife rely on the saltbush for food and shelter in the harsh desert environment.
Synonyms
A group of plants like saltbush that grow in salty or dry soil
A group of plants like saltbush that often grow in salty or alkaline soil
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Saltbush is a simple combination of salt and bush, meaning a 'bush' that grows in soil with a lot of 'salt'. That's why saltbush refers to shrubs that thrive in dry, salty places.