rooibos
Part of speech: noun
Morphological type: derivation
Etymology: Unadapted borrowing from Afrikaans rooibos (literally “redbush”), from Dutch rooi (“red”) + bos (“bush”). Compare related honeybush via Afrikaans heuningbos from heuning (“honey”) + bos (“bush”).
Base: heuning
Inflected forms:
form: rooibosch
pos: noun
tags: alternative
Senses:
gloss: A shrub (Aspalathus linearis) from which a tisane (herbal tea) is made.
pos: noun
tags: South-Africa
uncountable
examples: The air is aromatic with buchu (Rutaceae), pines, rooibos (Aspalathus linearis), and, of course, the cedars for which these mountains are named.
Love it or hate it, rooibos (Aspalathus linearis) is as much a part of this region as rock art, velskoen and stunning spring flowers.
Rooibos (Aspalathus linearis, Fabaceae) is a plant that is indigenous only to the Cedarburg Mountain Range near Cape Town, South Africa. Wilson (2005, p140) notes that the mountain-dwelling people of the Khoikhoi were the first to use rooibos as a tea and, had it not been for them, rooibos would probably simply have remained an unutilized bush. The name ‘rooibos’ is an Afrikaans word meaning red bush for which the plant has been commonly known since at least the 1960s and probably back to the 1940s, and which is perceived as part of the country's heritage (Cheney and Scholtz, 1963).
gloss: The tisane (herbal tea) made from this plant.
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
examples: 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 sold similar tea under that appellation.
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.
Antioxidants are hot topics in the health news these days, and an herbal tea called rooibos (pronounced ROY-boss) is becoming popular partly because it is being marketed as a healthy beverage with high levels of antioxidants. The rooibos plant (Aspalathus linearis (Burm. f.) Dahlgren, Fabaceae) is a South African flowering shrub used to make a mild-tasting tea that has no caffeine, very little tannin, and significant amounts of polyphenol antioxidants.
When brewed, rooibos is a stunning orange-red color.
gloss: Various shrubs of the genus Combretum.
pos: noun
tags: South-Africa
uncountable
examples: 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 (Sclerocarya caffra) and Tambootie (Exoecaria africana); […]
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 sagligna), and suikerbos (Protea abyssinica) grow, we more often have our poorest pastures of good value only in the early spring.
Bush Willow (Rooibos) (Combretum apiculatum). Rooibos occurs in most parts of the ranching areas of the northern, north-western and north-eastern Transvaal.
Thornveld (Acacia karroo) and Rooibos (Combretum apiculatum) veld.
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