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Now found throughout the Southwestern US, chaparral actually originated in Argentina several thousand years ago. The stems and leaves of the bush are covered with a sticky resin that screens leaves against ultraviolet radiation, reduces water loss, and poisons or repels most herbivores. It received its name "creosote bush" due to the smell that comes from it when it rains. It's extremely bitter taste keeps it safe from animals that would otherwise graze upon it. It is also regarded as one of the most adaptable desert plants in the world; it was one of the first to grow back in Yucca Flats after the 1962 nuclear bomb tests done there.