caatinga

kah-TING-gah
The thorny, drought-adapted scrubland of northeastern Brazil — a dense tangle of small trees, cacti, bromeliads, and spiny shrubs that loses its leaves in the dry season and explodes into green at the first rain. The caatinga is one of the most biodiverse dryland ecosystems in the world and one of the least protected.
Etymology
Tupi — ka'a (forest, vegetation) + tinga (white, pale). White forest — named for the pale, skeletal appearance of the leafless trees in the dry season.
desert/arid forest/woodland Indigenous Tupi
*
Surprise Me With a Word