macambira

English

Etymology

From Portuguese macambira.

Noun

macambira (plural macambiras)

1. A thorny shrub, Bromelia laciniosa, of the pineapple family, native to Brazil and Argentina.
   • 1984, Mario Vargas Llosa, translated by Helen R. Lane, The War of the End of the World, Folio Society, published 2012, page 267:

     The circus people proceeded, amid macambiras and across stony ground, taking turns pulling the wagon.

   • 2006, Ehsan Masood, Daniel Schaffer, Dry: Life Without Water, page 114:

     Pineapple-like plants known as macambiras, with worrisome thorny red blades, spring up in the hundreds out of the ground.