tecoma, noun

Origin:
modern Latin, AztecShow more A former generic name of the plant (see quotation 1973), from modern Latin (Jussieu 1789), adaptation of Aztec tecomaxochitl, mistakenly supposed by Jussieu to be the name of a species of the genus to which he gave this name (but really the native name of Solandra guttata of the Solanaceae).
The indigenous shrub Tecomaria capensis of the Bignoniaceae, bearing yellow or orange honeysuckle-like blooms, and commonly used as a hedge-plant; Cape honeysuckle, Cape trumpet flower, see Cape sense 2 a. Also attributive.
1928 F.C. Slater Sel. Poems (1947) 50Now in dim woods, tecoma Her tapers lights, Like veld-fires twinkling nightly On distant heights. [Note] Native flowering shrub.
1956 Cape Times 1 Mar. 8Manitoka and tecoma hedges.
1966 C.A. Smith Common Names 458Tecoma, Tecomaria capensis...The vernacular name is an old generic name by which the species is known in gardens and which is transferred to the wild plants.
[1973 M.R. Levyns in Std Encycl. of Sn Afr. IX. 25The Cape honeysuckle (Tecomaria capensis)..has smaller flowers...At one time it was included in the American genus Tecoma, but for many years it has been placed in a separate genus Tecomaria.]
1987 E. Prov. Herald 6 June 6Indigenous plants are hard to get, excepting easy and popular things like agapanthus, strelitzia, vygies, and tecoma.
1987 M. Poland Train to Doringbult 123A picket fence, a hedge of tecoma, so choked with smoke it is dying slowly over years.
The indigenous shrub Tecomaria capensis of the Bignoniaceae, bearing yellow or orange honeysuckle-like blooms, and commonly used as a hedge-plant; Cape honeysuckle, Cape trumpet flower, see Cape sense 2 a. Also attributive.
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19281987