shinnery
SHIN-er-ee
A dense thicket of scrub oak — specifically the low, spreading shin oak of the southern Great Plains, which rarely exceeds waist height but colonizes vast areas of sandy ground through underground root networks. A single shinnery plant can be centuries old, sending up stems across an acre or more. The landscape looks like brush. It is actually one organism.
Etymology
Modification of Louisiana French chênière, from French chêne (oak). Despite appearances, the name has nothing to do with shins — though the brush will find them.
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