ysterbos

ysterbos

English

Etymology

From Afrikaans ysterbos.

Noun

ysterbos (plural not attested)

1. (South Africa, rare) Dodonaea thunbergii; Dodonaea angustifolia.
   • 1910: South Africa Department of Forestry, Bulletin, № 1–29, page 82 (Government Printing and Stationery Office)

     D. viscosa is from India. Our native D. thunbergii — the Yyster-bossie or Sand-olien — is very similar, and should prove […]

   • 1980, Trees in South Africa: Volumes 32-35, published by the Tree Society of Southern Africa, Arboricultural Society of South Africa:

     The Renosterbos (Elytropappus rhinocerotis) is sometimes dominant here and the Ysterbos (Dodonea viscosa) is also abundant.

   • 1988, Upstream‎, page 10:

     She bends over the bright feathery foliage to check, yes it is ysterbos, an infallible remedy for kidney disorders, and for something else, but she can't remember other than that the old people treasured their bunches of dried ysterbos.

   • 1996, M Ferreira; K Charlton, L Impey, “Traditional medicinal use of indigenous plants by older coloureds in the Western Cape”, in Indigenous knowledge and its uses in southern Africa‎, page 95:

     Ysterbossie 5 1 (in a table of indigenous plants used as medicines)

Synonyms

• sand olive, sandolien, ysterhout

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Afrikaans

Etymology

Possibly from yster (“iron”) + bos (“shrub, shrublet, bush”)

Noun

ysterbos (plural ysterbosse, diminutive ysterbossie)

1. Dodonaea thunbergii; Dodonaea angustifolia.