thousand-jacket

Dictionary of Australasian Words Phrases and Usages by Edward E. Morris

n.


a North Island name for Ribbon-wood (q.v.), a New Zealand tree. Layer afterlayer of the inner bark can be stripped off.

1888. Cassell's `Picturesque Australasia,' vol. iii. p. 210:

«Koninny [sic], raupo, toi-toi, supplejack, thousand-jacket,and the like, are names of things known well enough to theinhabitants of Napier and Taranaki, but to the averagestay-at-home Englishman they are nouns which only vexatiouslyillustrate the difference between names and things.»

1889. T. Kirk, `Flora of New Zealand,' p. 87:

«Hoheria populnea. The Houhere. Order – – Malvaceae. . . In thenorth of Auckland the typical form is known as `houhere'; butMr. Colenso informs me the varieties are termed `houi' and`whau-whi' in the south . . . By the settlers all the formsare termed `ribbon-wood,' or less frequently `lace-bark' – – names which are applied to other plants: they are also termed`thousand-jacket.'»

1896. `The Australasian,' Aug. 28, p. 407, col. 5:

«`Thousand-jacket' is a picturesque name for a many-named NewZealand tree, the bark of which peels, and peels, and peelsagain, though in the number chosen there is certainly a note ofexaggeration.»

Dictionary of Australasian Words Phrases and Usages by Edward E. Morris

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