ˈwax-tree
A name given to various trees, of different localities, yielding vegetable or insect wax; esp. a. the candleberry myrtle, Myrica cerifera, of North America; b. the privet, Ligustrum lucidum, of China; c. the genus Vismia of South America; d. the varnish-tree of South America, Elæagia utilis; e. the Japanese shrub Rhus succedanea.
| 1791 W. Bartram Trav. 405 A species of Myrica (Myrica inodora)..which the French inhabitants call the Wax tree. 179. Curtis Bot. Mag. 2565 Ligustrum lucidum. Chinese Privet, or Wax-tree. 1803 Nicholson's Jrnl. Nat. Philos. (8°) IV. 188 The myrica cerifera, or wax tree. 1843 Penny Cycl. XXVII. 152/1 Wax-tree, the common name of the plants belonging to the genus Vismia. 1866 Treas. Bot. 442/2 The natives [S. America] speak of the tree producing this resin, Elæagia utilis, as the Wax tree or Varnish tree. Ibid. 1229/2 Wax-tree,..Japan, Rhus succeedaneum. 1890 Hosie West China 197 The tree is known to the Chinese as the Pai-la shu, or ‘white wax tree’. |