fever tree

Noun

fever tree (plural fever trees)

1. An acacia tree of species Vachellia xanthophloea, native to eastern and southern Africa, with fragrant yellow flowers.
   • To write of fever in the home of the far-famed “fever tree,” without adding a word upon its merits, would look like denying it honour in its own country; and to avoid that appearance of ingratitude, a leaf will now be gleaned from indigenous blue-gum literature.1874, William Thomson, On Typhoid Fever, page 195
   • Virtually all the trees in the home range of the baboons are acacias of just two species: the fever tree, Acacia xanthophloea (18.4% of feeding bouts), and, on somewhat higher, drier ground, the umbrella tree, A. tortilis (5.0%).1998, Stuart A. Altmann, “Dietary Diversity”, in Foraging for Survival: Yearling Baboons in Africa, Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, page 76
2. Georgia bark; any member of the species Pinckneya bracteata (syn. P. pubens), principally of Georgia and northern Florida in the US.