If you’ve ever been stuck in tangled, thorny bushes and shrubs while on a hike, you might have been caught in chaparral. From the Spanish “chaparra” (which can either mean “dwarf oak” or be an affectionate descriptor for a short person), this word came to describe a specific type of ecological biome. The vegetation is mostly shrubs, and there are hot, dry summers with wet, mild winters. This type of climate is called “Mediterranean,” but the chaparral can also be found in parts of coastal and foothill California, and parts of Chile, Australia, and South Africa.