shittah-tree

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A tree generally supposed to be an acacia, either Acacia Arabica (taken as including A. vera) or A. Seyal. These are small gnarled and thorny trees suited to dry deserts, yielding gum arabic, and affording a hard wood—that of one being, as supposed, the shittim-wood of Scripture. See cut under Acacia.