driedoring, noun

/ˈdri ˌduərəŋ//ˈdri ˌdʊərəŋ/
Forms:
Also driedoorn /-dʊə(r)n/, and with initial capital.
Origin:
Afrikaans, South African DutchShow more Afrikaans (earlier South African Dutch), drie three + doring thorn.
Any of several thorny shrubs of the genus Rhigozum of the Bignoniaceae (thorny pomegranates), especially R. trichotomum; threethorn. Also attributive.
1822 W.J. Burchell Trav. I. 299Bushes, three or four feet high, of that singular shrub Rhigozum trichotomum, whose stiff branches, constantly dividing and subdividing, in a most regular manner, into threes, present a very rare and curious ramification, and have obtained for it the name of Driedoorn (Three-thorn).
1917 R. Marloth Dict. of Common Names of Plants 24Driedoorn, Rhigozum trichotomum and R. obovatum. Shrubs of the Karoo generally branching trichotomously.
1933 Cape Argus 27 July (Swart)Experiments are also being carried out with the grinding of the Drie Doring Bush, and it is stated that the feeding value of this meal is even greater than that of the Karoo bush.
1955 L.G. Green Karoo 132In sandy soil, the widespread driedoring is the dominant bush, and this produces a dense covering of white flowers when the drought breaks. There is another driedoring species, the wilde granaat; which prefers the koppies and gives out brilliant yellow flowers.
1972 Palmer & Pitman Trees of Sn Afr. III. 2002Rhigozum,..Burchell founded this genus on the driedoring, Rhigozum trichotomum, the shrub whose spiky form..is so typical a sight in the arid northern Cape and parts of the western Orange Free State.
1983 K.C. Palgrave Trees of Sn Afr. 829A shrub, R. trichotomum.., the driedoring, with its branches characteristically arising in threes.
Any of several thorny shrubs of the genus Rhigozum of the Bignoniaceae (thorny pomegranates), especially R. trichotomum; threethorn. Also attributive.
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Afrikaans
dressed, participial adjectivepart. adj.drievoet, nounn. & adjectiveadj.
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