Guachamaca

/ɡwɑːtʃəˈmɑːkə/ noun

Definition

A tropical plant or tree found in parts of Central and South America, sometimes used in traditional medicine or as a food source.

Etymology

From indigenous languages of Central/South America, possibly Taíno or other Caribbean languages, entered Spanish colonial vocabulary and then English through naturalist descriptions of tropical flora.

Kelly Says

Plant names from the tropics often come from indigenous languages because those people were the botanists—they knew which plants healed, which fed you, and which would kill you, long before European scientists arrived with their Latin nomenclature.

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