Tamarisk

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A salt-tolerant shrub or small tree with slender, feathery branches and clusters of tiny pink or white flowers, often found near coasts
2. A hardy, graceful plant of the genus Tamarix that has scale-like leaves and thrives in saline soils and dry conditions
3. An ornamental flowering shrub with fine, feathery foliage that grows in sandy, salty ground along seashores and deserts

Etymology: The shrub's name travelled a long road before reaching English. The Latin "tamarix" was the classical name for the plant, and in Late Latin it took the form "tamariscus", the source of the English word. The plant itself, with its fine, scale-like foliage and pink or white flower spikes, thrives in salty, sandy ground near coasts and deserts, which explains why it became a familiar sight across the Mediterranean and beyond. The word is a straightforward borrowing rather than a native formation, so English took it whole from Latin, with the Late Latin ending giving the modern shape. Its meaning has stayed remarkably stable: the word has always named this same feathery, salt-tolerant shrub, not a related plant or a figurative sense.

Synonyms: salt cedar