staff vine

staff tree

or staff vinen. See bittersweet.

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[From the early modern misidentification of bittersweet (Celastrus) as the tree called kēlastros in Greek (actually the holly Ilex aquifolium), said by Theophrastus to have wood useful only for making staves for the elderly .]

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

staff vine - twining shrub of North America having yellow capsules enclosing scarlet seedsCelastrus scandens, climbing bittersweet, false bittersweet, shrubby bittersweet, waxwork, American bittersweet, bittersweetCelastrus, genus Celastrus - genus of woody vines and erect shrubs (type genus of the Celastraceae) that is native chiefly to Asia and Australia: includes bittersweetvine - a plant with a weak stem that derives support from climbing, twining, or creeping along a surface