staff vine

(redirected from Celastrus species)
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staff tree

or staff vine
[From the early modern misidentification of bittersweet (Celastrus) as the tree called kēlastros in Greek (actually the holly Ilex aquifolium), said by Theophrastus to have wood useful only for making staves for the elderly .]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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Noun 1. [画像:staff vine - twining shrub of North America having yellow capsules enclosing scarlet seeds]staff vine - twining shrub of North America having yellow capsules enclosing scarlet seeds
Celastrus, genus Celastrus - genus of woody vines and erect shrubs (type genus of the Celastraceae) that is native chiefly to Asia and Australia: includes bittersweet
vine - a plant with a weak stem that derives support from climbing, twining, or creeping along a surface
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