fever tree

American  

noun

1. any of several trees that produce or are believed to produce a febrifuge, as the blue gum, which is believed to prevent malaria.

2. a small tree, Pinckneya pubens, of the madder family, native to the southeastern U.S., having a bark used as a tonic and febrifuge.

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fever tree British  

noun

1. any of several trees that produce a febrifuge or tonic, esp Pinckneya pubens , a rubiaceous tree of SE North America

2. a tall leguminous swamp tree, Acacia xanthophloea , of southern Africa, with fragrant yellow flowers

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Etymology

Origin of fever tree

An Americanism dating back to 1865–70

Example Sentences

For the teetotaler, there’s the “No Booze Cruise,” a concoction of seedlip garden, fever tree Mediterranean tonic, ginger and pineapple at $11.

From New York Times • Mar. 2, 2019

The inner eye and the outer eye may sometimes see the same image, the same dreamy beast standing under the fever tree.

From Time Magazine Archive

Conspicuous among them was the ill-omened "fever tree," with its gaunt, bare, ungainly arms and yellow bark—the tree whose presence indicates a pestilential air.

From Impressions of South Africa by Bryce, James Bryce, Viscount