abrojo

(Spanish model spelled same [aßróxo] < Latin aperi oculum 'open your eye!')

   Texas: 1931. According to the DARE, this term can refer to any of a variety of chaparral shrubs, including Condalia globosa. Often refers to the "lotebush" and "squawbush." The DRAE defines abrojo as a plant of the zygophyllaceous family, with long creeping stems, composite leaves, almost spherical fruit, and many sharp, sturdy spines. It is harmful to crops. Santamaría glosses this term as a common name for any of a number of plants, belonging to several different families, that all have stems or fruit bristling with many sharp, sticky, or barbed spines. In Mexico, abrojo is applied to such diverse plants as: Triumpheta semitriloba, Microrhamnus ericoides, C. spatu-lata, and C. obtusifolia. The cowboy wore chaps and relied on his boots and tapaderos to protect his feet and legs from the sharp spines of these plants. Ladino cattle often hid in thickets of abrojo or chaparral, making his job difficult, indeed.