beef-wood
(ˈbiːfwʊd)
[f. beef n. + wood.]
1. The timber of an Australian tree (Casuarina), so called from its red colour; the tree has long, pendent, jointed, thread-like branches, without leaves, but with small sheaths at the joints.
| 1836 Penny Cycl. VI. 358 The timber of some species [Casuarina] forms the beefwood of the New South Wales colonists. 1880 Silver Handbk. Australia 275 The beef-wood..and tulipwood take a high polish. |
2. Applied to various other trees, e.g. in N.S. Wales to Stenocarpus salignus; in Queensland to Banksia compar (both family Proteaceæ); in Jamaica to evergreen shrubs or low trees of the genus Ardisia (family Myrsinaceæ).
| 1756 P. Browne Jamaica 201 This tree is commonly called by the name of Beef-wood..from the fleshy colour of the interior bark. 1819 Blackw. Mag. IV. 654 Well wooded with..the Beefwood. |