buttonwood

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the American sycamore, a large North American plane tree with round buttonlike fruiting heads

   A grove of buttonwood shaded the river meadow.

2. 2
   noun

   any of several other trees or shrubs called buttonwood, especially the tropical coastal tree Conocarpus erectus

   Salt-tolerant buttonwood grew along the edge of the mangrove forest.

A compound of button + wood, named for the round, buttonlike fruiting heads of the American sycamore and similar trees. Buttonwood is a common name rather than a single botanical genus, so it has also been applied to several unrelated shrubs and trees.

Topics