bromelia Bot.
(brəʊˈmiːlɪə)
[Named by Linnæus after Olaus Bromel, a Swede.]
A plant of the genus Bromelia, or of the family Bromeliaceæ, consisting of plants indigenous to S. America and W. Indies, the species of which have short stems, and generally lance-shaped leaves with spiny margins.
| 1822 W. J. Hooker Exotic Flora I. 41 Bromelia Pallida, pale-flowered Bromelia. 1833 Penny Cycl. I. 447/1 Orchideous plants and bromelias overrun their limbs. 1963 R. P. Dales Annelids ix. 179 Such specialized habitats as the reservoirs of bromelias. |
b. attrib., as bromelia water, water contained in the rosette of leaves of a bromeliad.
| 1860 Mayne Reid Odd People 83 The thorny point of the bromelia leaf. 1908 Smithsonian Misc. Coll. V. 73 The species was also bred from bromelia water near Tabernilla. |