Flindersia schottiana

9.9

An Australian tree called silver ash with strong timber and poisonous bark

noun

Australian

: Flindersia schottiana

Indigenous Australians once used extracts from the bark of Flindersia schottiana for their toxic properties.

Examples

The timber of Flindersia schottiana is valued for its strength and attractive appearance.
Many gardens and parks in Queensland feature Flindersia schottiana as an ornamental tree.
The Flindersia schottiana is a valuable timber tree in Australia.
Many builders prefer Flindersia schottiana for its durability.
Indigenous Australians once used extracts from the bark of Flindersia schottiana for its toxic properties.
The bark of Flindersia schottiana can yield a poison that was historically used by Indigenous Australians.
Care should be taken when handling Flindersia schottiana because its bark can produce a harmful substance.

Synonyms

silver ash

vsFlindersia schottiana

Australian

9.9

An Australian tree with pale wood used for furniture

identifies a specific Australian timber tree with poisonous bark

Surface Forms

Flindersia schottiana singular

Flindersia schottianas plural

Morphology

Flindersia + schottiana

The genus name 'Flindersia' signals a group of Australian timber trees, so a learner who knows that constituent could infer the MWE refers to a type of tree. However, 'schottiana' is a non-lexical species epithet (likely commemorative) and botanical Latin binomials do not convey the specific semantic details (e.g. 'silver ash' or poisonous bark) to an average B1 learner, so the full meaning is only partly recoverable.

Etymology

Flindersia schottiana is a scientific name named for people: the genus Flindersia was named for the explorer Matthew Flinders and schottiana was named for a botanist called Schott. Picture an Australian 'silver ash' with shiny bark once used as a poison, and that image helps you remember it is a timber tree with poisonous bark.