Pterocarpusn.
/ˌtɛrəˈkɑːpəs/, U.S. /ˌtɛrəˈkɑrpəs/ Botany.
A genus of tropical trees of the family Fabaceae ( Leguminosae) noted for their broadly winged circular fruits and including many kinds valued for their hard, often red, wood, such as the padauks ( Pterocarpus dalbergioides, P. soyauxii, etc.) and P. indicus, the source of amboyna wood; (also pterocarpus) a tree of this genus. Cf. padauk n.Valid publication of the genus name: N. Jacquin Selectarum stirpium americanarum historium (1763) 283.
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the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular timber trees or shrubs > non-British timber trees > [noun] > tropical > pterocarpus timber trees
angsana1749
Pterocarpus1770
lingoa1798
kyabuka1831
padauk1839
narra1890
1770 C. Milne Bot. Dict. (at cited word) In pterocarpus the pod is compressed of a leafy substance..and woody within.
1797 Encycl. Brit. XV. 640/2 Pterocarpus, in botany: a genus of the decandria order..and in the natural method ranking under the 32d order, Papilionaceæ.
1859 D. Bunce Trav. with Dr. Leichhardt (1979) iii. 22 The pterocarpus, or red Saunder's wood of India.
1866 D. Livingstone 9 June in Last Jrnls. (1874) I. ii. 48 One tree of which bark cloth is made, pterocarpus, is abundant.
1893 Geogr. Jrnl. 1 248 On the..Zambesi a Pterocarpus, a kind of almug, is used largely for boat-building.
1964 R. W. J. Keay et al. Nigerian Trees II. 149 Pterocarpus erinaceus... This tree, the most widespread Pterocarpus in savanna areas, usually flowers most conspicuously..when it is leafless.
1991 P. Matthiessen Afr. Silences i. 11 The common pterocarpus tree is coming into pretty yellow blossom.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1770