koun.
/kəʊ/ A Hawaiian tree, Cordia subcordata, of the family Boraginaceæ, or its dark brown wood.
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kou1825
koa1850
1825 W. Ellis Jrnl. Tour Hawaii i. 27 The houses, which are neat, are generally built on the sea-shore, shaded with cocoanut and kou trees.
1866 ‘M. Twain’ Lett. from Hawaii (1967) 128 It [sc. the coffin] is made of those two superb species of native wood, kou and koa. The former is nearly as dark as ebony.
1866 ‘M. Twain’ Lett. from Hawaii (1967) 207 Among the varied and handsome foliage of the kou, koa, kukui..its [sc. the orange's] dark, rich green cone was sure to arrest the eye.
1913 J. F. Rock Indigenous Trees Hawaiian Islands 415 The Kou, which is indigenous in the Hawaiian Islands,..can only be found along the sea-shore here and there... The wood of the Kou was much sought for.
1969 T. H. Everett Living Trees of World 292/2 A native of sandy shores of the Indian and the western Pacific oceans, the kou or sea trumpet (C[ordia] subcordata) is an evergreen tree that grows up to 50 feet in height and has a dense, spreading crown.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1976; most recently modified version published online March 2018).
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n.1825