rhenosterbos, noun

/rəˈnɔstəbɔs/
Forms:
renosterbos, renosterboschShow more Also renosterbos, renosterbosch, rhenosterbosch, rhinosterbos, rhinosterbosch.
Origin:
South African Dutch, Dutch, modern AfrikaansShow more South African Dutch, from Dutch rhenoster rhinoceros + bos, bosch bush. The influence of modern Afrikaans renosterbos is seen in the most recent quotations.
1. rhinoceros-bush. Also attributive, and rhenosterbosje, rhenosterbossie [see boschje].
1812 A. Plumptre tr. of H. Lichtenstein’s Trav. in Sn Afr. (1928) 173We here found in abundance a plant which..the colonists call..rhinosterbosjes, because, they say, that in the time when the rhinoceros was an inhabitant of the country, it used to feed very much upon this plant.
1822 W.J. Burchell Trav. I. 101A neat pale bushy shrub, of the height of three or four feet, called Rhenoster bosch (Rhinoceros bush) and said to have formerly been the food of the huge rhinoceros, till those animals fled before the colonists.
a1827 D. Carmichael in W.J. Hooker Botanical Misc. (1831) II. 56The country..is overrun with the heath-like shrub called the Rhinoster bosch, (Stoebe rhinocerotis), from under cover of which we startled numbers of Duyker antelopes.
1844 J. Backhouse Narr. of Visit 511The Rhinosterbos, Rhinoceros-bush, a low shrub, which is said to grow only on country which will produce wheat.
1861 Lady Duff-Gordon Lett. from Cape (1925) 69The whole veld (common)...is covered with a low thin scrub, about eighteen inches high, called rhenoster-bosch — looking like meagre arbor vitae or pale juniper.
1872 E.J. Dunn in A.M.L. Robinson Sel. Articles from Cape Monthly Mag. (1978) 39How much better it would be to see the ‘Ruggens’ covered with ‘schaapbosch’, instead of the worthless ‘rhinoster bosch’.
1910 A.B. Lamont Rural Reader 259Rhenosterbos is one of our commonest bushes, being found all over the country.
1918 J.W. Bews Grasses & Grasslands of S. Afr. 95In the South-Western region, the species which is usually dominant over great areas..is the Rhenoster bosch, a composite (Elytropappus rhinocerotis).
1927 C.G. Botha Social Life in Cape Col. 103The tops of branches of the rhenosterboschjes,..when infused in wine or brandy gave a good stomachic bitters.
1941 C.W. De Kiewiet Hist. of S. Afr. 189Tumbleweed, prickly pear, rhenosterbos, and jointed cactus invaded the territory of the edible grass and nutritious plants.
1957 L.G. Green Beyond City Lights 225Within a brushwood fence, in a kraal covered inches deep with manure by the sheep, sheltered from the sun by a renosterbos roof, the tobacco plants flourish.
1961 M.M. Cole S. Afr. 541Burning and overgrazing..have destroyed many of the grasses and permitted the sway of the useless renosterbos (Elytropappus rhinocerotis), a low shrub whose leaves are impregnated with wax and are unpalatable to animals.
1964 L.G. Green Old Men Say 149Renosterbos, gummy and resinous, to be infused with brandy; a tonic for dyspeptics.
1973 Y. Burgess Life to Live 113She says you can try some wildeals or renosterbos in a little brandy to make you strong.
1978 Sunday Times 5 Mar. 3Just one teensy-weensy elephant peering at one over a renosterbossie.
1984 A. Wannenburgh Natural Wonder of Sn Afr. 87Here the most prevalent taller plants are the grey-green renosterbos and four species of protea, including the water white sugarbush.
1988 Smuts & Alberts Forgotten Highway through Ceres & Bokkeveld 24At the southern entrance in the Cold Bokkeveld, the vegetation is not unlike that of Ceres, with the rhenosterbos (Elytropappus rhinocerotis) much in evidence.
1993 [see renosterveld].
2. combination
rhenosterbosveld /-felt/ [Afrikaans veld (open) countryside], renosterveld.
1987 T.F.J. Van Rensburg Intro. to Fynbos 14As indicated earlier, there are five veld types in the Cape Floral kingdom or Fynbos Biome: strandveld, coastal rhenosterbosveld, coastal fynbos, fynbos and false fynbos...The soils on which strandveld and coastal rhenosterbosveld are found are fertile, neutral to alkaline and sometimes somewhat brackish.
1987 T.F.J. Van Rensburg Intro. to Fynbos 23Coastal Rhenosterbosveld...What strikes one about this veld type is the dominance of the evergreen fine-leaved shrub rhenosterbush (Elytroppapus rhinocerotis) and the characteristic wealth of spring flowers.
[1989 Weekend Post 7 Oct. 3It was considered vital to conserve the Baviaanskloof because it was the meeting place of four major veld types — mountain funbos, valley bushveld, Knysna forest and Cape grassveld. A fifth veld type, renosterbos, was found on the fringes.]
rhinoceros-bush. Also attributive, and rhenosterbosje, rhenosterbossie [see boschje].
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18121989

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rhenosterbosveld

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rhebuck, nounn.rhenostervoël, nounn.
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