bottlebrush

[ bot-l-bruhsh ]

noun

, Botany.

1. any of various trees or shrubs of the myrtle family, especially of the genera Callistemon and Melaleuca, native to Australia and adjacent areas, having spikes of flowers with numerous conspicuous stamens.

bottlebrush

/ ˈbɒtəlˌbrʌʃ /

noun

1. a cylindrical brush on a thin shaft, used for cleaning bottles
2. Also calledcallistemon any of various Australian myrtaceous shrubs or trees of the genera Callistemon and Melaleuca , having dense spikes of large red flowers with protruding brushlike stamens
3. any of various similar trees or shrubs

Word History and Origins

Origin of bottlebrush¹

1705–15; bottle ¹ + brush ¹; so called from the resemblance of the flower spike to a brush used for cleaning bottles, with bristles on all sides of a central stem

Example Sentences

Then they added bottlebrush trees, animal figurines and little log cabins.

From Seattle Times

These roots look like bottlebrush and are formed only when the level of phosphorus in the soil is low.

From Salon

“Look at that caterpillar,” Andrew J. Brand said one afternoon as we passed a hummocky old bottlebrush buckeye shrub in my garden.

From Seattle Times

She envisioned the knifelike teeth and bottlebrush tail, the way each of its black claws had curled in the earth as it tensed.

From Literature

In one storage room, glass jars full of pollens — red alder, mountain cedar, bottlebrush — dust mites, cockroach, cattle hair, aspergillus, and other allergens lined the shelves.

From Salon