Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of numerous shrubs or small trees of the genus Tamarix, native to Africa and Eurasia and widely naturalized in western North America, having small scalelike leaves and racemes of small pinkish flowers and usually growing in saline soil.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A plant of the genus Tamarix: sometimes called flowering cypress.
  • noun Any plant of the order Tamariscincæ.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Bot.) Any shrub or tree of the genus Tamarix, the species of which are European and Asiatic. They have minute scalelike leaves, and small flowers in spikes. An Arabian species (Tamarix mannifera) is the source of one kind of manna.
  • noun an East Indian tree (Tamarix orientalis) which produces an incrustation of salt.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Any of several shrubs, of the genus Tamarix, native to the Mediterranean. Introduced into the United States as an ornamental plant, it is now a weed.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun any shrub or small tree of the genus Tamarix having small scalelike or needle-shaped leaves and feathery racemes of small white or pinkish flowers; of mostly coastal areas with saline soil

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English tamarisc, from Late Latin tamariscus, variant of Latin tamarīx, tamarīc-; probably from an unknown Mediterranean source akin to Greek murikē.]

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Examples

  • Lord as on another occasion (Nu 11: 31). and in the morning ... a small round thing ... manna -- There is a gum of the same name distilled in this desert region from the tamarisk, which is much prized by the natives, and preserved carefully by those who gather it.

    Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible 1871

  • The Colorado River is in extreme stress from an invasive non-native shrub called the tamarisk, which was sourced from the eastern Mediterranean to stabilize erosion of riverbeds.

    Lead Stories from AOL 2010

  • The USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service last week formally ended its program of releasing saltcedar leaf beetles to eat saltcedar, also known as tamarisk, in 13 states:

    LJWorld.com stories: News By Mead Gruver - Associated Press Writer 2010

  • The USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service last week formally ended its program of releasing saltcedar leaf beetles to eat saltcedar, also known as tamarisk, in 13 states:

    AroundTheCapitol.com 2010

  • The USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service last week formally ended its program of releasing saltcedar leaf beetles to eat saltcedar, also known as tamarisk, in 13 states:

    Home 2010

  • In fact, they have been so successful in central Asia that in some areas, it is hard to find tamarisk, which is still prized as an ornamental, Enstrom said.

    News/local from www.chieftain.com 2009

  • Dan Bean, the Colorado Department of Agriculture's director of biological pest control, said 100,000 yellow-striped Diorhabda beetles have already been released along the Arkansas River to help contain the spread of a voracious weed called tamarisk, The Denver Post said Monday.

    Latest News - UPI.com 2009

  • Plants such as tamarisk (Tamarix sp.) and giant cane (Arundinaria gigantea) are outcompeting native species and replacing them along the banks of the river, thus greatly altering the riparian zone.

    Rio Grande River, United States 2009

  • Plants such as tamarisk (Tamarix sp.) and giant cane (Arundinaria gigantea) are outcompeting native species and replacing them along the banks of the river, thus greatly altering the riparian zone.

    Rio Grande, United States 2009

  • I find with a little googling that it also refers to a kind of tamarisk tree in the American southwest, Olneya tesota, and to the Indian rose chestnut, Mesua sp.

    languagehat.com: HACKMATACK. 2005

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  • Historical note can be found in comment on paper.

    December 30, 2016