bottlebrush

American  

[bot-l-bruhsh] / ˈbɒt lˌbrʌʃ /

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.

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bottlebrush British  

/ ˈbɒtəlˌbrʌʃ /

noun

1. a cylindrical brush on a thin shaft, used for cleaning bottles

2. Also called: callistemon.  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

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Etymology

Origin of bottlebrush

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

Instead of linear polymer strands, Cai's structure resembles a bottlebrush -- many flexible side chains radiating out from a central backbone.

From Science Daily • Nov. 27, 2024

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

From Seattle Times • Dec. 8, 2023

The TreePeople team, caring mostly for drought-tolerant species like gold medallion tree, Chitalpa, and lemon bottlebrush, recommends 15 gallons, poured slowly onto the base of the tree, every week for the first three years.

From Salon • Oct. 26, 2022

Cynthia Barnes told jurors that around 11 p.m. on Nov. 1, 2008, Ponce, now 36, and Rafael, now 31, arrived at the tucked-away camp shaded beneath hanging bottlebrush trees off the 405 Freeway.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 6, 2017

So thoroughly had Theresa prepared herself for alienation, that she was taken aback by the familiarity of Ralph — that bottlebrush hair, those stuck-on ears.

From "Typical American" by Gish Jen