[Anglicized form of the Maori name tutu.] A shrub or small tree, Coriaria ruscifolia, of New Zealand. It bears shining pulpy black berries containing poisonous seeds, with an action similar to that of strychnine.
1857. R. Wilkin, in C. Hursthouse, N. Zealand, xiii. 372. The plant called ‘tutu’ or ‘toot’ … appears to be universal over New Zealand.
1872. Routledge’s Ev. Boy’s Ann., 40/2. Toot is a poisonous shrub of which cattle are very fond.
