honeybush

Meanings

1. Any of a group of bushes in the genus Cyclopia whose flowers smell of honey and whose leaves are used to make an herbal tea.
2. Any of several not closely related shrubs that have features reminiscent of honey, of species:
3. Cuttsia viburnea (native elderberry), of rainforests in New South Wales and Queensland in Australia.
4. Hakea lissocarpha (duck-and-drake-bush), of Western Australia
5. Melianthus major (Cape honeyflower), of South Africa and naturalised elsewhere
6. Richea scoparia, of Tasmania

Etymology

From honey + bush; for the South African plant, a calque of Afrikaans heuningbos (heuning + bos). Compare related borrowing rooibos (literally “redbush”) from rooi (“red”) + bos (“bush”).