A shrub bearing bayberries, or a plant with aromatic leaves similar to bay laurel.
Compound of 'bay' (the plant, from Latin 'bacca' meaning berry, or from the place/color) plus 'bush'. Used in colonial American contexts to describe the bayberry shrub.
Colonial names for plants often combined descriptive elements—'bay' plus 'bush'—showing how settlers created English names for unfamiliar New World plants by combining familiar words in simple combinations.
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