The name (after Charles II.) of a North American colony, now forming two states (North C. and South C.) of the American Union; hence applied to the Sweet Potato (see quot.), and used in the names of various plants and animals, as Carolina ash, osprey, whiting; also Carolina Allspice, the flowering shrub Calycanthus floridus; Carolina Pink, Spigelia Marilandica, also called Indian Pink, of which the root is an active anthelmintic. See also CAROLINE a. 2.
1734. Mortimer, Nat. Hist. Carolina, in Phil. Trans., XXXVIII. 317. Alburnus Americanus, the Carolina-Whiting.
1884. Century Mag., Jan., 442/1. The sweet potato was adopted from the aborigines in all the Southern colonies, and it is yet known in the market as the ‘Carolina.’
1866. Treas. Bot., 203. Carolina Allspice or Sweet-scented shrub.
