Austral. [Corruption of mod.L. polygonum.] ‘A bushman’s contraction for any species of the wiry plants called polygonum’ (Morris, Austral Eng.). In quots. attrib.
1880. Mrs. Meredith, Tasmanian Friends & Foes, xxviii. 180. The poor emus had got down into the creek amongst the lignum bushes for a little shade.
1896. H. Lawson, When World was Wide, 135 (Morris). By mulga scrub and lignum plain.
