spathodea, n.
(speɪˈθəʊdɪə)
[a. mod.L. genus name Spathodea (A. M. F. J. Palisot de Beauvois Flore d'Oware et de Benin (1804) i. 46): see spatha n., -ode1.]
The African tulip tree, Spathodea campanulata, of the evergreen family Bignoniaceae, grown as an ornamental throughout the tropics for its clusters of tulip-shaped orange and scarlet flowers.
| 1873 C. J. G. Rampini Lett. from Jamaica 64 Beside the court-house stood a splendid Spathodea in full blossom. 1930 F. B. Young Jim Redlake iv. vi. 633 They must be nearing some river, it seemed, for the trees grew taller. In front of them stood one, a huge spathodea Jim thought, with a cold, gleaming trunk that shot straight upward..like a pillar of silver. 1973 J. C. Wells Jamaican Pronunc. in London i. 15 /tSini/ ‘Spathodea tree’. 1983 D. Caute The K-Factor i. 13 She showed him her imported trees, her spathodia [sic], her Australian blackwood, her monkey puzzle. |