Bromelia'ceæ

Bromelia'ceæ, an order of monocotyledonous plants, allied to Amaryllidaceæ and Iridaceæ, and of course to Liliaceæ (q.v.), of which, in the larger sense, many systematists reckon all these mere sub-orders. They most resemble Amaryllidaceæ (with which they are practically continuous through Agave), but are usually distinguished by their perianth-whorls differentiated as calyx and corolla, and by their habit. They are usually short stemmed, with close-set long rigid leaves, often spiny or scaly, channelled and sheathing at the base. The species are all natives of the warmer parts of America, although some of them are now naturalised both in Asia and Africa. The best-known plant of the order, and the only one much valued for its fruit, is the Pine-apple (q.v.). Some species, with their strong spiny leaves, form impenetrable thickets. Many of them are epiphytic, or grow upon trees without being parasites, and are often called air-plants. Tillandsia usneoides, Beard Moss or Spaniards' Beard of the West Indies and of the southern parts of the United States and Mexico, hangs from the trees like the lichens of colder climates, and gives the foliage of the cypress-groves, where it occurs, a peculiar and melancholy picturesqueness. Many species are known in cultivation, and grown suspended from balconies in South America, or greenhouse roofs in this country, chiefly on account of their peculiar mode of vegetation, sometimes although their flowers are often beautiful and fragrant. Many species are also cultivated as ornamental stove-plants. Species of this order also furnish valuable fibres. Tillandsia usneoides, already mentioned, yields a fibre, easily obtained and in great abundance, which is used instead of hair for stuffing mattresses. The fibres of the leaves of the pine-apple, and of some other species of this order, have been made into fabrics resembling the finest white muslin, whilst they are found also to possess sufficient strength for cordage. The produce of different species of Bromelia is often included along with that of the American Aloe or Agave (q.v.), under the name of Pita fibre or Pita flax, the appearance and properties of the fibres being very similar, as well as those also of the fibres of the species of Yucca. The fibre of the pine-apple is, in some countries, very frequently twisted into fishing-lines, and made into nets and into ropes intended for immersion in water, being very little liable to injury from this cause.—The pine-apple cloth of the Philippines, called Pina muslin and Batiste d'ananas, also sometimes erroneously called grass-cloth, from which it may be distinguished by its untwisted fibres (see BEHMERIA), is obtained from small-fruited varieties of this and allied species—e.g. Billbergia ovata.—The fruit of B. pinguin, the Wild Ananas of the West Indies, affords a beverage employed in various ailments.