bottlebrush

bottlebrush [bot-l-bruhsh] Word Origin 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.

Origin of bottlebrush 1705–15; bottle1 + brush1; 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 British Dictionary definitions for bottlebrush bottlebrush 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