monoaon.
/ˈmɒnəʊaʊ/, U.S. /ˈmɔnoʊˌaʊ/, /ˈmɑnoʊˌaʊ/, New Zealand English /ˈmonoʌo/, /ˈmɒnʌʊæu/ New Zealand.
A heathlike New Zealand shrub, Dracophyllum subulatum (family Epacridaceae), which has slender, rigid leaves.The name monoao is occasionally confused with manoao, and is frequently used for the coniferous tree Halocarpus kirkii (see manoao n.).
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1847 R. Taylor Jrnl. 28 Apr. in Dict. N.Z. Eng. (1997) (at cited word) The mountains here [i.e. in central North Island] are very lofty and covered with an ochreous soil, the manoa principally grows on them. It is a sacred shrub not used as fuel for cooking.
1906 T. F. Cheeseman Man. N.Z. Flora 426 D[racophyllum] subulatum... North Island: From Rotorua..to..Ruahine Mountains. 350 to 3500 ft. Monoao.
1922 Auckland Weekly News 23 Mar. 15 Here and there a clump of koromiko..a patch of celmesia and the little heath-like flower of the shrub called monowa.
1951 E. B. Levy Grasslands N.Z. (1970) 10 Poa tussock, danthonia tussock, stunted bracken, stunted manuka, monoao..and Pimeleas were the more dominant plants of the poorer areas.
1981 R. L. Taylor Weeds Roadsides & Waste Ground in N.Z. 99 Monoao (Dracophyllum subulatum). Native shrub resembling manuka but more spindly, rather smaller and reddish.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, December 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1847