Where does “bitterleaf tree” come from?

bitterleaf tree (English) comes from English tree, from Middle English tre — A tree or a plant that resembles one.

bitterleaf tree (English): Gymnanthemum extensum, an asteraceous shrub of East and Southeast Asia

Definitions

  1. Gymnanthemum extensum, an asteraceous shrub of East and Southeast Asia

Ancestry of “bitterleaf tree”, step by step

bitterleaf tree traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via English tree

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishtreeA perennial woody plant, not exactly defined, but...
2Middle EnglishtreA tree or a plant that resembles one

via English bitterleaf

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishbitterleafVernonia amygdalina, a tree native to sub-Saharan Africa
Every word from Middle English tre