cabbage tree

American  

noun

1. any tropical tree or treelike plant having leaves or edible shoots suggestive of cabbage.

2. an Australian palm tree of the genus Livistona, especially L. australis.

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cabbage tree British  

noun

1. Also called: ti.  a tree, Cordyline australis, of New Zealand having a tall branchless trunk and a palmlike top

2. any of several other similar trees of the genus Cordyline

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Etymology

Origin of cabbage tree

First recorded in 1715–25

Example Sentences

As the helicopter darted through a small hole in the low-lying clouds, we were greeted by a riot of green, the dense beech forests punctuated with lighter-colored cabbage tree palms.

From Washington Post • Jan. 8, 2015

There is a cabbage tree next to his house.

From Time Magazine Archive

A few of us went on shore with small caps on our heads and some with cabbage tree hats, but we speedily discovered they would not do.

From Five Years in New Zealand 1859 to 1864 by Booth, Robert B.

Ball, though an inestimable acquisition to our colony, produces little else than the mountain cabbage tree.

From A Narrative of the Expedition to Botany-Bay by Tench, Watkin

The bark of A. inermis, or cabbage tree, is narcotic, and is used as an anthelminthic under the name of worm-bark or cabbage bark.

From The New Gresham Encyclopedia. Vol. 1 Part 2 Amiel to Atrauli by Various