spice bush
- noun
- /spaɪs bʌʃ/
- US
:
arbusto especiero
- In spring, the spice bush displays lovely yellow flowers that add color to the landscape.
Examples
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Hikers often enjoy the delightful scent of a spice bush as they walk through its natural habitat.
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Some orchards grew spice bushes, and these were very fragrant.
Fiction book (1990) -
The spice bush thrives in the rich soil of the eastern forests, attracting many pollinators.
Synonyms
A shrub with fragrant leaves and bark, yellow flowers, and red or yellow berries
A small bush that loses its leaves each year with strong-smelling leaves, yellow flowers, and red or yellow berries
A bush that loses its leaves in winter with fragrant leaves, yellow flowers, and red or yellow berries
A small shrub with fragrant leaves, yellow flowers, and red or yellow berries
A shrub with fragrant leaves, flowers, and red berries
How Aromatic
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound 'spice bush' is transparently a bush associated with spices or aromatic properties, so a learner who knows 'spice' and 'bush' can infer it denotes a shrub with spicy/aromatic qualities. This follows a regular noun-noun composition pattern common across languages and in English plant names, making the meaning readily predictable for a B1 learner.
Etymology
Spice bush comes from the plant's spicy smell: when you crush its leaves or berries they give a strong scent that people used like a spice for food or tea, and the plant is a small bush. So today spice bush means 'a shrub with a spicy smell'.