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Because of the semidesert landscape, the trees that grow here are small and twisted, so reed mats packed with mud serve as walls and cooking surfaces.

Today, water recycling, desalination and drip irrigation, among other tools, have all helped turn the semidesert country into one with a water surplus.

At the valley’s southernmost tip, which is surrounded by a shrub-steppe semidesert and is one of Canada’s hottest spots, conditions are ideal for reds such as syrahs and merlots.

At the very least, the monsoonal flow gives Los Angeles a sticky, tropical feel, making a dry semidesert uncharacteristically muggy.

French fighter planes repeatedly struck a rebel column deep in northern Chad, in the impoverished country’s semidesert northeast, stopping the rebels in their tracks.