A South American name for a species of palm (Manicaria saccifera), the spathes of which supply a kind of coarse strong cloth. Hence bussu palm, bussu cloth.
1858. Hogg, Veg. Kingd., 754. Manicaria saccifera is a native of Brazil … where it is called Bussu. Ibid. (1858), 755. Between layers of the smooth Bussu cloth.
1866. Treas. Bot., II. 717/2.
1885. Lady Brassey, In Trades, 166. The delicate brown net-work that covers the spathe of the Bussu palm.
