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

Theobroma, thē-ō-brō′ma, n. a small tropical American genus of trees of the sterculia or kola-nut family.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements) by Various

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 on this firm margin of land were a species of eucalyptus, cypresses, and the sterculia heterophylla, with a few casuarinae.

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

Rain commenced at 7.0 a.m. and continued till noon; at 6.25 steered east and soon entered a dense scrub of acacia, box, sterculia, and Moreton-Bay ash.

From Journals of Australian Explorations by Gregory, Augustus Charles