shəˈmēzə, ch- noun
( -s )
Etymology: Mexican Spanish, from Spanish, a grass used in thatching, brushwood, from Portuguese chamiça small dry pieces of wood, a cane, a heather, from chama flame, from Latin flamma; akin to Latin flagrare to burn
: a semidesert evergreen shrub ( Atriplex canescens ) that has greenish gray foliage and is important as a browse plant in the southern U.S. — called also chamiso