upas tree

views updated May 18 2018

upas tree in folklore, a Javanese tree alleged to poison its surroundings and said to be fatal to approach. An account of the tree was given in the London Magazine of 1783, and was said to be translated from one written in Dutch. The physician Erasmus Darwin (1731–1802) adopted and gave currency to the fiction, but it was in fact invented by the writer and critic George Steevens (1736–1800).

The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable ELIZABETH KNOWLES

upas tree

views updated May 17 2018

upas tree (ipoh) See ANTIARIS.

A Dictionary of Plant Sciences MICHAEL ALLABY

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