'meager trees' is a correct and usable phrase in written English.
You can use it when referring to trees that look frail or small, as in the sentence: "The wind swept through the meager trees in the park."
The equations show that changing the characteristics of the trees had meager effects: Doubling the size of a tree only increases the required wind speed by 9%; likewise, using wood more resistant to fracturing (oak versus pine) increased the critical wind speed by less than 10%.
Mostly, they drive around on patrols, take shelter under the meager shade of thorny acacia trees and prepare Tuareg tea, a potent brew poured into small glasses.
On a recent morning in the border town of Agok, Ms. Achol slumped in the meager shade of a thorn tree, her belly rumbling from the nearly toxic mix of wild plants she ingested, a baby sweating profusely in her arms.
And you come in contact with all types, like the time we shared the meager shade of a thorn tree with some Masai herdsmen, who, save for their plastic sandals, were still following an itinerant life that is hundreds, if not thousands, of years old.
Meager efforts, like my effort to make a tree get meager applause.
While farmers are loath to give up productive farmland, Mr. Rashin and his partner, José Luis Álvarez, have persuaded many to reforest depleted land that would have produced meager corn crops by providing these families with free trees.
Somehow, the remote settlement the Försters left behind survived, drawing meager income from the cultivation of the yerba mate tree, the leaves of which are used to make tereré, the infused drink consumed across Paraguay.
The tall trees of Areva, TGV, and Airbus cannot hide the meager innovation forest.
The coal companies have made only the most meager efforts to reclaim this devastated land by planting quick-growth pine trees, black locust, grass seed, and other plants that can live with high levels of acids in the soil.
The family made makeshift tents from the leaves of trees and foraged for fruits and vegetables to supplement everyone's meager diet.
Liquid nourishment had dwindled to a meager supply of grapefruit juice when a cache of Brugal rum stashed under a fallen tree by the camp's absent owner was discovered.
