bottle tree

noun

1. any of several trees of the genus Brachychiton, native to Australia, characterized by a bottle-shaped swelling of the trunk, as B. rupestris narrow-leaved bottle tree or B. australis broad-leaved bottle tree.

bottle tree

noun

1. any of several Australian sterculiaceous trees of the genus Sterculia (or Brachychiton ) that have a bottle-shaped swollen trunk
2. another name for baobab

Word History and Origins

Origin of bottle tree¹

First recorded in 1840–50

Example Sentences

The gullies were full of bush-trees, amongst which the Bottle-tree, and the Corypha-palm were frequent.

From Project Gutenberg

It was on Mount Abundance that the first bottle-tree was discovered.

From Project Gutenberg

Here we first saw the Australian bottle-tree, which is native only to these colonies.

From Project Gutenberg

It is in his description of this region in his journal that we first find an allusion to the bottle tree.

From Project Gutenberg

Sometimes they came upon the curiously-shaped bottle tree, which greatly resembles a lemonade bottle placed in the ground.

From Project Gutenberg