Definition of "bromeliad" [bromeliad]

• 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, the Spanish moss, and numerous ornamentals. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Half a dozen gray-and-white Bolivian squirrel monkeys scamper from branch to branch in a strangler fig, then leap to a nearby bromeliad."
• "Scads of petunias, lobelia, fancy begonias and geraniums, sweet potato vines, even a bromeliad."
• "This is not a true moss at all, but rather a bromeliad, Tillandsia usneiodes, that favors these branches from which to view the world."