ˈwater-tree
[Cf. G. wasserbaum.]
† 1. A tree which grows by the water-side or in watery ground. Obs.
| 1600 Surflet Country Farm vii. xiv. 823 There are two sorts of trees in generall: the one is called water trees, or trees delighting to grow in or neere vnto the brinkes of waters. 1612 R. Churton Olde Thrift newly revived 51 Will not these trees which you haue tearmed water trees, grow in any other place then in low waterie grounds? |
2. A tree which yields a watery juice; applied, e.g. to the pitcher-plant of Sri Lanka, Nepenthes distillatoria, the African climbing shrub Tetracera alnifolia, and the Australian tree Hakea leucoptera.
For red-water tree see red-water 3.
| 1759 B. Stillingfleet Misc. Tracts (1762) 76 The water-tree in Ceylon produces cylindrical bladders, covered with a lid; into these is secreted a most pure, and refreshing water. 1866 Treas. Bot. s.v. Tetracera, T. potatoria [1874 T. alnifolia] is called the Water-tree at Sierra Leone, on account of its climbing stems yielding a good supply of clear water when cut across. 1894 C. D. Tyler in Geog. Jrnl. III. 484 The cetico, or water-tree [of S. America], is a variety of the bombax, or silk-cotton tree. 1898 Morris Austral English, Water-tree, a tree from which water is obtained by tapping the roots, Hakea leucoptera, R. Br. |