Adjacent Words

buttonwood definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: very large spreading plane tree of eastern and central North America to Mexico [syn: American sycamore, American plane, buttonwood, Platanus occidentalis]

Merriam Webster's

noun Date: 1674 plane II

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Plane Plane, n. [F., fr. L. platanus, Gr. ?, fr. ? broad; -- so called on account of its broad leaves and spreading form. See Place, and cf. Platane, Plantain the tree.] (Bot.) Any tree of the genus Platanus. Note: The Oriental plane (Platanus orientalis) is a native of Asia. It rises with a straight, smooth, branching stem to a great height, with palmated leaves, and long pendulous peduncles, sustaining several heads of small close-sitting flowers. The seeds are downy, and collected into round, rough, hard balls. The Occidental plane (Platanus occidentalis), which grows to a great height, is a native of North America, where it is popularly called sycamore, buttonwood, and buttonball, names also applied to the California species (Platanus racemosa).

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Buttonwood But"ton*wood`, n. (Bot.) The Platanus occidentalis, or American plane tree, a large tree, producing rough balls, from which it is named; -- called also buttonball tree, and, in some parts of the United States, sycamore. The California buttonwood is P. racemosa.