Background: American name referring broadly to any dense thicket of shrubs growing in alkali soils. Chaparral has been used for thousands of years by Native Americans for a variety of purposes.
Description: This evergreen shrub grows to 1-3 m. tall, sometimes to 4 m. Wand-like stems bear resinous, dark green leaves with two leaflets joined at the base, each leaflet is 7-18 mm long and 4-8.5 mm broad. Flowers up to 25 mm in diameter bear five yellow petals. The whole plant exhibits the characteristic odor of creosote, hence the common name
The small leaves of Chaparral have a high surface-volume ratio, optimizing the rate at which heat escapes so that the plants water content is retained. Water loss is also decreased by a resinous, waxy coating of the leaves. It is a well distributed and very successful species in the Mojave, Sonoran, and Chihuahuan Deserts of western North America, closely related to the South American Larrea divaricata. These two species were previously considered to be one.
Chaparral commonly forms clonal colonies, which may be very long-lived; a ring of creosote bushes in the Mojave Desert is believed to be at least 12,000 years old.
Safety: There is some known negative safety information available for this herb
Not recommended for use when nursing or during pregnancy, in those with any liver disease including hepatitis, in those with kidney disease, for children under the 12.
Those with liver disease should seek advice from a qualified health care practitioner before any consumption. There have been cases of idiosyncratic non-viral hepatitis linked with this herb. Some have experienced an allergic reaction or hypersensitivity to the plant and plant resin.
