bottle-brush
[f. bottle n.2 + brush.]
1. A brush for cleaning bottles, with bristles diverging on all sides from a central stem.
| 1713 Derham Phys.-Theol. 190 note, Antennæ; plain in the Female [Gnat], in the Male feathered, somewhat like a Bottle-brush. 1883 Leisure Ho. 473/1 Suggestive of gigantic feather-brushes, or rather bottle-brushes. |
2. Bot. a. The popular name of the Horse-tail (Equisetum) and Mare's-tail (Hippuris vulgaris), from their shape. Also applied to various other plants or flowers (see quots.); bottle-brush grass: Asperella hystrix. b. Also applied to an Australian shrub, the Banksia marginata (Rhind's Veg. Kingd. 1874, 711), and to the Metrosideros floribunda (The Garden 10 June (1882) 417/3).
| 1843 J. Torrey N.Y. Nat. Hist. Surv.: Flora II. 478 Bottle-brush Grass... Moist, rocky woods, and along shady ravines: not rare. 1852 G. C. Mundy Our Antipodes I. ii. 76 The Bottle-brush, one of the most characteristic plants of the bush..has rough, twisted branches, and a leaf something like the holly. Sir Joseph Banks gave it the botanical name of Banksia. 1883 A. Easther Gloss. Dial. Almondbury 15 Bottlebrush, a plant otherwise called Common Spurry, or Farmer's Ruin: Spergula arvensis... Another plant bears the same name—the Mare's Tail, or Hippuris vulgaris. 1883 Encycl. Brit. XX. 174/1 Bottlebrush [in Queensland], the Callistemon lanceolatus. 1923 D. H. Lawrence Kangaroo xviii. 397 Gold red bushes of the bottle⁓brush tree. 1957 P. White Voss iii. 70 Belle had a spray of the crimson bottlebrush that she had torn off recklessly. 1961 Amat. Gardening 30 Sept. Suppl. 8/3 Callistemon..the unusual flowers..have a mass of prominent stamens giving the appearance of a bottle brush. This has given rise to the popular name of bottle brush plant. 1967 Southerly XXVII. 199 The flame of bottle-brush. |
3. attrib. and in comb.
| 1851 Q. Rev. Dec. 40 Bottle-brush-flowered, zigzag-leaved, grey-tinted, odd-looking things. 1885 A. Brassey The Trades 265 The..Entada scandens..bears an insignificant yellow, bottle-brush, acacia-like flower. |