1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, Volume 20… (1911)
“ More loosely “pagoda” is used in the East to signify any non-Christian or non-Mussulman place of worship. Pagoda or pagod was also the name given to a gold (occasionally also silver) coin, of about the value of seven shillings, at one time current in southern India. From this meaning is derived the expression “the pagoda tree,” as synonymous with the “wealth of the Indies,” whence the phrase to “shake the pagoda tree.” There is a real tree, the Plumieria acuminata, bearing the name. It grows in India, and is of a small and graceful shape, and bears yellow and white flowers tinged with red. ”
