palmiet

plural palmiets

1. A South African flowering plant, Prionium serratum.

   The reserve lies near the northern limit of the distribution of Prionium serratum – a palmiet that resembles a dwarf palm.

   2017, Willie Olivier, Hiking Trails of South Africa, 4th edition, Struik Travel & Heritage, →ISBN

   2 more examples

   The climate is very salubrious; that of the village, from its situation, very changeable, the N. E. wind creating at times oppressive heat, whilst the condensation of moisture by the palmiet growing in the valley, which extends through the village, renders it desirable that it should be cleared. The palmiet would then make way for luxuriant crops, the soil being purely alluvial.

   1845, The Cape of Good Hope Almanac and Annual Register, page 258

   At some distance by the river was a great brute, bigger than a Newfoundland dog, stalking along with the hideous baboon walk, and tail vehemently cocked up; a troop followed at a distance, hiding and dodging among the palmiets.

   1864, [Lucie,] Lady Duff-Gordon, “Letters from the Cape”, in Francis Galton, editor, Vacation Tourists and Notes of Travel in 1862-3, London; Cambridge: Macmillan and Co., page 194