English edit

Etymology edit

Afrikaans or English water + Afrikaans boom (tree)

Noun edit

waterboom (uncountable)

  1. (South Africa, archaic) Syzygium cordatum, a tree typically growing out of wet ground.
    • 1901 July 19, “To Australia and Back”, in The Agricultural Journal and Mining Record[1], volume 4, number 10, page 299:
      On nearing Bacchus Marsh the country becomes wooded, mostly with stunted swamp gums, which look very much like our waterboom, a valueless kind of tree.