Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of various mostly epiphytic tropical American plants of the family Bromeliaceae, usually having long stiff leaves, colorful flowers, and showy bracts. Bromeliads include the pineapple, Spanish moss, and many ornamentals.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Any of various tropical or subtropical New World herbaceous plants in the family Bromeliaceae.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From New Latin Bromelia, type genus, after Olaf Bromelius, (1639–1705), Swedish botanist.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From New Latin Bromeliaceae.

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Examples

  • Half a dozen gray-and-white Bolivian squirrel monkeys scamper from branch to branch in a strangler fig, then leap to a nearby bromeliad.

    Take Me to the River Andrew McCarthy 2011

  • (Island of the Herons) A thousand types of bromeliad (tropical plants) chose the shores of Laguna Catemaco for their home.

    Laguna Catemaco, Veracruz 2008

  • Born's view of the big epiphytic bromeliad several meters down the vine was unobstructed.

    Shopgirls Frederick Barthelme 2010

  • Born walked back past the heavily laden Ruumahum and stopped at the brim of the bromeliad which had attracted such excellent prey.

    Shopgirls Frederick Barthelme 2010

  • Three arms supported it in a semistanding pose on the outer edge of the bromeliad.

    Shopgirls Frederick Barthelme 2010

  • Today, when my grandson and I went to see “Aunt Ashley” at the grocery store, where she is a flower designer, there was a woman who was very excited about a reddish colored orchid she bought that was growing in a pot with a similar colored blooming bromeliad.

    Blooms? In January? « Fairegarden 2010

  • Scads of petunias, lobelia, fancy begonias and geraniums, sweet potato vines, even a bromeliad.

    Garden Goddess for Hire 2010

  • (Island of the Herons) A thousand types of bromeliad (tropical plants) chose the shores of Laguna Catemaco for their home.

    Laguna Catemaco, Veracruz 2008

  • This is not a true moss at all, but rather a bromeliad, Tillandsia usneiodes, that favors these branches from which to view the world.

    Cherry Mash-Mish Monday « Fairegarden 2010

  • A lost breeze blew, rifBing leaf tips on the bromeliad.

    Shopgirls Frederick Barthelme 2010

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