gambier

noun

1. (uncountable, usually)A flowering plant, of species Uncaria gambir, family Rubiaceae, native to Southeast Asia.

   “When the entire coast-line becomes a sea of waving palms, with Chinese and Malay villages fringing the shores, which are at present mere barren wastes of mangroves, with plantations of pepper, of gambier, and of tapioca and rice, the Northern Territory, backed up by the unswerving energy of the Australian squatter, miner, and planter, will present a spectacle almost unknown in the scheme of British colonization.”

2. (uncountable, usually)An astringent substance prepared from the leaves of the plant, used in tanning and dyeing.