turpentine tree

English

Noun

turpentine tree (plural turpentine trees)

1. A terebinth or Cyprus turpentine (Pistacia terebinthus), source of Cyprian turpentine. [from 16th c.]
2. Any of various other trees producing turpentine, now chiefly species of pine and fir. [from 18th c.]
3. (Australia) Any of various trees of the genus Syncarpia known for their aromatic or flammable resin or leaves, especially Syncarpia glomulifera of eastern New South Wales and Queensland. [from 19th c.]
   • 2002, Alex Miller, Journey to the Stone Country, Allen & Unwin, published 2003, page 269:

     The Pajero sped past small clearings in the scrub floored by white earth […] , overarched by the skinny limbs of twisted turpentine trees that might have been the desiccated remains of the dwelling houses of a species long vanished from this earth.

4. (Australia) Gardenia pyriformis (malara, native gardenia), native to northern Australia.
5. (Virgin Islands) Bursera simaruba (West Indian birch), native to the tropical and subtropical Americas.
6. (Australia) Canarium australianum (brown cudgeree) (in family Burseraceae), native to Australia and Papua New Guinea.

   Synonym: mango bark, scrub turpentine, carrot wood, parsnip wood, Melville Island white beech

7. Colophospermum mopane, of southern Africa.

   Synonyms: balsam tree, black ironwood, butterfly tree, mopane

Derived terms

• Australian turpentine tree (Lophostemon confertus, syn. Tristania conferta; Syncarpia laurifolia)
• Persian turpentine tree (Pistacia spp.)

See also

• brush turpentine (Choricarpia leptopetala, Rhodamnia rubescens)
• scrub turpentine (Canarium australianum, Rhodamnia rubescens)
• turpentine bush (Beyeria spp., Eremophila spp., Acacia lysiphloia, and Ericameria laricifolia)
• turpentine grass (Cymbopogon spp.)
• turpentine weed (Gutierrezia sarothrae, Silphium perfoliatum, Silphium terebinthinaceum, Trichostema lanceolatum, Trichostema laxum

References

• “turpentine tree”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.