rooibos

Noun

rooibos (uncountable)

1. (South Africa) A shrub (Aspalathus linearis) from which a tisane (herbal tea) is made.
   • The air is aromatic with buchu (Rutaceae), pines, rooibos (Aspalathus linearis), and, of course, the cedars for which these mountains are named.1980, Panoramic South Africa, Johannesburg: Central News Agency, →ISBN, page 41
   • Love it or hate it, rooibos (Aspalathus linearis) is as much a part of this region as rock art, velskoen and stunning spring flowers.2006, Karena Du Plessis, Vanessa Cowling, West Coast: Landscape, People, Food, Texture, Cape Town: Struik, →ISBN

   Synonyms:

   redbush

2. The tisane (herbal tea) made from this plant.
   • The respondent obtained the registration of a trade mark for bush tea, one essential particular of which was the name of "Rooibosch" tea. Before the registration the same kind of tea had been known by several names one of them being Red bush tea, or in Dutch "Roodebosch" tea, and the appellants had...1909 October 28, “Heatlie Bros. and Others vs. Hartley”, in “Cape Times” Law Reports: A Record of Every Matter Disposed of in the Supreme Court, volume 19, Cape Town: Cape Times, published 1910...
   • During the past twenty years or so farmers in the Cedarberg region, from Citrusdal to Nieuwoudtville, have raised the rooibos tea industry from obscurity to minor boom.1967, Commercial Opinion, volume 45, Cape Town: Association of Chambers of Commerce of South Africa, →OCLC, page 19

   Synonyms:

   redbush, rooibos tea

3. (South Africa) Various shrubs of the genus Combretum.
   • The crest of the rim and the upper portion of both the outer and inner slopes are covered with a fairly thick growth of Rooibosch (Combretum holosericeum), and Bastard Rooibosch (Combretum apiculatum), accompanied by Dichrostachys nutans, Grewia occidentales, and isolated examples of Marula...1922, W[ilfrid] J[ohn] Wybergh, The Coal Resources of Union of South Africa (Union of South Africa, Department of Mines and Industries, Geological Survey. Memoir; no. 19), volumes I (The Coalfields...
   • Where the Hakdoorn (Acacia litakunensis Burch) and the Soetdoorn (Acacia Karoo) grow as the dominant trees we often find our sweetest pastures; and where Rooibos (Combretum holosericium and C. Zeyheri Sond), Sering (Burkea africana), wilde kweper (Androstachys Johnsonii), boekenhout (Faurea...1932, A[ndrew] M[urray] Bosman, Cattle Farming in South Africa (South African Agricultural Series; 10), [Johannesburg]: Central News Agency, →OCLC, page 267