A tropical hardwood tree native to Central and South America, yielding a durable yellow or brown timber valued for furniture and construction.
From Spanish 'pústico' or similar source, borrowed from Taíno or another Amerindian language; the word entered English through colonial trade and timber commerce in the Caribbean and Americas.
Bustic wood was so prized by European colonial traders that they depleted natural populations, yet the tree survives and remains important to indigenous communities—a cautionary tale of ecological extraction.
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