quiver tree, noun phrase

Origin:
South African Dutch
1. The kokerboom (sense 1), Aloe dichotoma. Also attributive.
1789 in P. Cullinan Robert Jacob Gordon (1992) 18 (caption)Aloe Dichotoma, or Quiver Tree.
1790 W. Paterson Narr. of Four Journeys 58This plant (sc. Aloe dichotoma) is called the Koker Boem, or Quiver Tree; and has its name from the use to which it is commonly applied by the natives.
1806 J. Barrow Trav. I. 334The largest I met with was about one hundred feet. It was called in the country the Kooker boom, or quiver tree.
1824 W.J. Burchell Trav. II. 199The quiver is usually made of some thick hide..; but the natives more towards the western coast, frequently use the branches of the Aloe dichotoma, which is therefore called by the Hottentots and Colonists, Kokerboom or quiver-tree.
1838 J.E. Alexander Exped. into Int. I. 56We..ascended..the higher parts of the Kamiesberg, where we saw the strange koker boom, or quiver-tree, with its thick and silver-green trunk, hollow arms (from which the quivers are made), and leaves like those of the aloe.
1883 B. Ridsdale Scenes & Adventures in Great Namaqualand 35Vegetation scarce existed here..and very occasionally a koker boom, or quiver tree.
1902 G.M. Theal Beginning of S. Afr. Hist. 11The arrows were carried in a quiver usually made of the bark of a species of euphorbia, which is still called by Europeans in South Africa the Kokerboom or quiver tree.
1961 O. Levinson Ageless Land 12Weirdly decorative koker or quiver tree of the aloe family jabs its fingers at the pallid blue sky — fingers that are strange forked ramifications of its stem.
1989 A. Stevens in S. Afr. Panorama 6 Feb. 46The kokerboom is also known as the Quiver Tree because the bushmen would use a suitable branch from one as an arrow container...The two open ends would be sealed with a flap of tanned skin.
1991 D.M. Moore Garden Earth 203The quiver tree (Aloe dichotoma)..is a giant succulent member of the lily family...The indigenous African San peoples used the soft branches as quivers for their arrows, from which the tree derives its name.
2. With distinguishing epithet designating a different species of aloe: giant quivertree, the baster kokerboom (see kokerboom sense 2), Aloe pillansii.
1992 A. De Klerk in S. Afr. Panorama Mar.Apr. 76Cornellskop..in the Northwestern Cape is the home of the endangered giant quiver tree (Aloe pillansi), a rare sight on the desolate Richtersveld landscape.
The kokerboom (sense 1), Aloe dichotoma. Also attributive.
giant quivertree, the baster kokerboom (see kokerboom sense 2), Aloe pillansii.
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17891992