boekenhout, noun

Forms:
bockenhout, boeken houttShow more Also bockenhout, boeken houtt, buchenhout, bucku-hout.
Origin:
South African Dutch, DutchShow more South African Dutch, from Dutch beuke(boom) beech (tree) + linking phoneme -n- + hout wood.
Any of several trees resembling the European beech, especially the Cape beech Rapanea melanophloeos of the Myrsinaceae, and Faurea saligna of the Proteaceae; the wood of these trees; beukenhout. Also attributive. See also Cape beech (Cape sense 2 a).
1790 tr. of F. Le Vaillant’s Trav. II. 241The indolence of the planters suffered it to decay entirely, so that at present it is considered as a lost species. This tree, at the Cape, is named boeken houtt.
1815 J. Mackrill Diary. 119Sideroxylon Melanophleum is the Bucken Wood of the Boors..Boeken Hout.
1860 J. Sanderson in Jrnl of Royal Geog. Soc. XXX. 246On the plain, sprinkled over with sugarbush, mimosa, boekenhout, &c., were the few houses forming the village of Rustenburg.
1887 A.A. Anderson 25 Yrs in Waggon I. 42The Pongola Bush..is a beautiful forest of fine timber-trees. Some of the most valuable are the Bosch Gorrah,..Ebenhout,..Bockenhout, no regular grain.
1906 H. Rider Haggard Benita 84The square-face — as Hollands was called in those days, from the shape of the bottle — was set upon the rough table of speckled buchenhout wood.
1934 Star 17 Mar. (Swart)Boekenhout is greatly used for pick handles and for picture frames, book-ends, and similar things.
1951 N.L. King Tree-Planting 70Rapanea melanophloeos (Boekenhout), A hardy tree with thick leathery leaves. Usually occurs on the margins of forests from Cape Town to Zululand and eastern Transvaal.
1961 Palmer & Pitman Trees of S. Afr. 218The tree received its name, boekenhout, or beech, from the resemblance of the wood to the European beech.
1975 S. Afr. Panorama Jan. 14Furniture was mainly of wood indigenous to the Transvaal such as tambotie, boekenhout (South African beech), [etc.].
1982 S. Afr. Panorama Dec. 13Other flowering sub-tropical plants and trees are wild fig,..boekenhout, knobthorn.
1991 H. Hutchings in Weekend Post 23 Feb. (Leisure) 7Useful trees for background, windbreak or shade planting are Rapanea melanophloeos (boekenhout) and Sideroxylon inerme (milkwood).
Any of several trees resembling the European beech, especially the Cape beech Rapanea melanophloeos of the Myrsinaceae, and Faurea saligna of the Proteaceae; the wood of these trees; beukenhout. Also attributive.
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