sterculia

American  

[stur-kyoo-lee-uh] / stɜrˈkyu li ə /

noun

1. any of various tropical trees of the genus Sterculia, of which some species are grown as ornamentals and some are the source of commercially valuable wood.

---

sterculia British  

/ stɜːˈkjuːlɪə /

noun

1. a dietary fibre used as a food stabilizer and denture adhesive. It is the dried gum tapped from the trunk and stems of the tree Sterculia urens , native to Central India and Pakistan

---

Etymology

Origin of sterculia

1765–75; < New Latin, equivalent to Latin Stercul ( us ) a Roman deity supposed to have invented manuring (derivative of stercus manure, excrement) + ia -ia; from the fetid odor of the blossoms of certain species

Example Sentences

The sterculia, or bottle-tree, is a very singular curiosity.

From Austral English A dictionary of Australasian words, phrases and usages with those aboriginal-Australian and Maori words which have become incorporated in the language, and the commoner scientific words that have had their origin in Australasia by Morris, Edward Ellis

The heteromorphous sterculia of the interior, and some species of eucalyptus of very stunted growth covered its sides, which however for a considerable distance were not deficient in grass.

From Journals of Two Expeditions into the Interior of New South Wales by Oxley, John

Acacia giraffae, Ac. horrida, Adansonia sterculia, near the Kunene the Hyphaene ventricosa, deserve special notice.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 7 "Geoponici" to "Germany" by Various

At 3.30 p.m. entered a dense scrub of small crooked eucalypti and acacia, with a few sterculia.

From Journals of Australian Explorations by Gregory, Augustus Charles

The trees thin and chiefly cypress, with occasionally a large sterculia, but no water whatever: at the ninth mile we entered a very thick eucalyptus brush, overrun with creepers and prickly acacia bushes.

From Journals of Two Expeditions into the Interior of New South Wales by Oxley, John