aucuba Bot.
(ˈɔːkjʊbə)
[Japanese name.]
1. A well-known hardy evergreen diœcious shrub (Aucuba Japonica, family Cornaceæ), with laurel-like leaves usually blotched with pale yellow, grown for ornamental purposes.
| 1819 Rees Cycl. III, Aucuba, a large Japanese tree..introduced by Mr. John Grœfer in 1783. 1862 S. Partridge Eng. Months 10 The aucuba shows in the shrubbery his broadening leaf Spotted with gold. |
2. aucuba mosaic [mosaic a.1], a mosaic disease which attacks the leaves of solanaceous plants.
| 1922 H. M. Quanjer in Rep. Internat. Potato Conf. 136 On account of its resemblance to the variegation of Aucuba japonica, I call it Aucuba-mosaic [of potato]. 1936 Nature 21 Mar. 500/2 It was not..possible to distinguish serologically the viruses of tobacco mosaic, aucuba mosaic and tomato streak. |