heuning, noun

Forms:
Formerly also honing.
Origin:
Afrikaans, DutchShow more Afrikaans, earlier honing (from Dutch) honey.
‘Honey’, used attributively in the names of plants, the leaves of which are used to make a fragrant herbal tea (see honey tea sense b), as heuningblombos, heuningbos/-(blɔm)ˌbɔs/ [Afrikaans, (blom flower) bos bush], heuningblomtee, heuningtee/-(blɔm)tɪə/ [Afrikaans, (blom flower) tee (earlier Dutch thee) tea]: honey tea sense a. Also attributive.
[1837 Ecklon & Zeyher Enumeratio Plantarum Africae 153Cyclopia genistoides...Sept.-Dec. — Incolis africanis: ‘Honingthee’ phthisi ab iis adhibita.]
1913 C. Pettman Africanderisms 215Honingthee,..Cyclopea genistoides Vent. An infusion of the leaves of this plant has a sweet, astringent taste, and is useful in colds and coughs.
1917 R. Marloth Dict. of Common Names of Plants 40Honing tee v. Bushtea.
1950 M.M. Kidd Wild Flowers Pl.71Cyclopia genistoides...Heuningtee.
1966 C.A. Smith Common Names 247Heuningtee, Cyclopia genistoides...The foliage and young flowers are used as a bush tea with an odour suggesting honey (Afr.: heuning) and free from stimulating alkaloids, having long (c.1830) been used as a restorative for coughs and colds.
1980 Sunday Times 19 Oct. 16The secret to this farmer’s success is a wild tea bush...All he does is harvest his crop, ‘heuningblomtee’ (honeyblossom tea), a wild bush, which grows wild in kloofs and ravines in the mostly deciduous fruit farming area of the Langkloof where he lives...The heuningblombos is a green bush with an attractive yellow flower when in season.
1982 S. Afr. Panorama May 38The feast was rounded off with coffee, or else delicious heuningbos tea, served clear.
‘Honey’, used attributively in the names of plants, the leaves of which are used to make a fragrant herbal tea (see honey tea sense b), as heuningblombos, heuningbos/-(blɔm)ˌbɔs/ [Afrikaans, (blom flower) bos bush], heuningblomtee, heuningtee/-(blɔm)tɪə/ [Afrikaans, (blom flower) tee (earlier Dutch thee) tea]: honey tea sense a. Also attributive.
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18371982