Also 8–9 tonquin, (9 tonkin), 9. tonca, tonqua, tonga, (tonkay, tongo). [Tonka, according to Focke, Neger-Engelsch Woordenboek, 1855, the Negro name in Guiana of the bean (the Arawak Indian name being cumaru). So Fr. tonka or tonca, also tongo (Littré). Ulterior origin unknown. From the 18th century erroneously referred to Tonquin in Further India, and called Tonquin bean, in Du. 1770 tonquin-boontje (Hartsinck, I. 82).]
1. Tonka bean (Pg. fava de tonca, F. fève tonka, Du. tonka-boon): the black, fragrant, almond-shaped seed of a large leguminous tree, Dipterix odorata (also, according to Taubert in Engler & Prantl, 1894, of D. oppositifolia), of Brazil, Guiana, and adjacent regions, used for scenting snuff, and as an ingredient in perfumes. Also the tree itself.
1796. Stedman, Surinam (1813), II. xxix. 388. The tonquin beans are said to grow in a thick pulp, something like a walnut, and on a large tree.
1830. Lindley, Nat. Syst. Bot., 92. The volatile oil of the Coumarcuma odorata, or Tonka Bean, has been ascertained to be a peculiar principle called Coumarin.
1832. Macgillivray, trans. Humboldt’s Trav., xvii. (1836), 284. The fruit is known in Europe by the name of tonkay or tongo bean.
1833. Penny Cycl., I. 446/2. The fragrant tonga bean, which is … employed for perfuming snuff.
1852. Th. Ross, Humboldt’s Trav., II. xix. 224. This fruit,… under the name of tonca, or Tonquin bean, is regarded as poisonous.
1862. Contrib. fr. Br. Guiana to London Exhib. Cuamara or Tonka … yields the Tonquin bean.
1888. Encycl. Brit., XXIII. 443/2. Tonqua beans are used principally for scenting snuff.
1902. Westm. Gaz., 29 Oct., 4/2. When first engaged as pilot, Gatiño was gathering tonga beans in the forest.
2. Tonka-bean (or Tonga-bean) wood, the wood of Alyxia buxifolia, a Tasmanian evergreen shrub, also called Tonquin Bean-tree; scentwood.
1862. W. Archer, Products Tasmania, 41. Tonga Bean Wood (Alyxia buxifolia, Br.). The odor is similar to that of the Tonga Bean. A straggling sea-side shrub, three to five inches in diameter.
1866. Treas. Bot., Tonga-bean wood, Alyxia buxifolia.
