buttonwoods

Noun

buttonwood (plural buttonwoods)

1. The mangrove tree (Conocarpus erectus, family Combretaceae) a tropical and subtropical species.
   • On the opposite bank was a fresh ’gator wallow. The mud had been packed smooth where they turned and rolled their hard bodies. Penny dropped to his haunches behind a buttonwood bush.1938, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, chapter 24, in The Yearling, New York: Grosset & Dunlap, page 303
2. The American sycamore or American plane tree (Platanus occidentalis, family Platanaceae).
   • Thus quietly and comfortably did this excellent family vegetate under the shade of a mighty buttonwood tree, which by little and little grew so great as entirely to overshadow their palace.1824, Washington Irving (as Geoffrey Crayon), “Wolfert Webber, or Golden Dreams” in Tales of a Traveller, Volume 2, Part 4, Philadelphia: H.C. Carey & I. Lea, p. 55
3. California sycamore or western sycamore (Platanus racemosa).