English

Noun

money tree ‎(plural money trees)

1. (non-idiomatic usage) An imaginary tree from which money can be plucked; mentioned as an impossible object — see: money doesn't grow on trees.
   • 1967, Canadian Parliament, House of Commons Debates, Volume 1, page 699,

     Maybe we could learn how to grow money trees.

   • 2004, Leo Furey, The Long Run, page 86,

     Money does not grow on trees. There is no money tree at Mount Kildare. If we had a money tree, boys, there would be no need of the bakery, no need of the raffle.

2. (US) A miniature tree sculpture decorated with currency, often used as a raffle prize or a gift.
   • 1972, American Association of Occupational Health Nurses, American Association of Industrial Nurses, Occupational Health Nursing, Volume 20, page 26,

     NIAIN′s one money making project of the year, a money tree, was raffled off and won by Virginia Call of Bell and Howell.

   • 2001, Daniel J. Brown, Chapter 11: School Voluntarism, Social Capital, and Civil Society, Heinz-Dieter Meyer, William Lowe Boyd (editors), Education: Between States, Markets, and Civil Society: Comparative Perspectives, Lawrence Erlbaum, New Jersey, page 173,

     Donations from teachers and others were converted into coinage for a money tree that was raffled for $500.

   • 2003, North Carolina Folklore Society, North Carolina Folklore Journal, Volumes 50-53, page 23,

     Some families offer elaborate money trees, fashioned from decorated branches and streamers made of bills carefully pinned together […] .

3. (commercial name) The Malabar chestnut, Pachira aquatica.
4. The jade plant, Crassula ovata.
5. The cocoa tree, Theobroma cacao.
6. (Chinese mythology) A kind of holy tree believed to bring money and good fortune.
7. (Australia) A cheap tree sculpture, decorated with currency, used as a raffle prize because it would be illegal to offer a cash prize.

Synonyms

• (Malabar chestnut): Guiana chestnut, provision tree, saba nut
• (jade plant): friendship tree

See also

• money doesn't grow on trees