The Collaborative International Dictionary
Caatinga \Caa*tin"ga\, n. [Tupi caa-tinga white forest.] (Phytogeography) A forest composed of stunted trees and thorny bushes, found in areas of small rainfall in Brazil.
Wiktionary
n. A sparse, thorny wooded area of northeastern Brazil containing drought-resistant trees.
Wikipedia
Caatinga is a type of desert vegetation, and an ecoregion characterized by this vegetation in interior northeastern Brazil. The name "Caatinga" is a Tupi word meaning "white forest" or "white vegetation" (caa = forest, vegetation, tinga = white).
Caatinga is a xeric shrubland and thorn forest, which consists primarily of small, thorny trees that shed their leaves seasonally. Cacti, thick-stemmed plants, thorny brush, and arid-adapted grasses make up the ground layer. Many annual plants grow, flower, and die during the brief rainy season.
Caatinga falls entirely within earth's Tropical zone and is one of 6 major ecoregions of Brazil, including the Amazon Basin, Pantanal, Cerrado, Caatinga, Atlantic Forest, and Pampas. It covers 850,000 km², nearly 10% of Brazil's territory. It is home to 26 million people and more than 2000 species of vascular plants, fishes, reptiles, amphibians, birds, and mammals.
Usage examples of "caatinga".
The Caatinga River was powerful at this time of year, when the limestone soil yielded up the water it had stored during the brief, violent rains.