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Bromelia laciniosa (macambira) is a spiny, drought-tolerant bromeliad from seasonally dry South America, grown for fiber, flour and as an ornamental. Its key to success is sharp drainage and plenty of sun in a dry climate.
Bromelia laciniosa, natively known as macambira, is plant in the bromeliad family, or in other words, the pineapple family—though not all bromeliads resemble the common pineapple. Bromelia laciniosa is native to Brazil and Argentina but cultivated in many other places.
A significant negative of working with Bromelia laciniosa is that the extraction of its leaves is very laborious; the plant's blades need to be trimmed and packed into bundles to make the pulverizing of its stalks more productive. Farmers need to make a cost/benefit analysis to determine whether the labour and equipment is worth the rewards of growing Bromelia laciniosa. Strong fibers can also be extracted from Bromelia laciniosa; the blades of the plant are cut, its thorns removed, its leaves fermented for several days to loosen up the fibers, and then its stalks are dried and readied for fiber extraction; a caveat though is that this process gives off a pungent odor, so this task should be performed in a contained area. The leaves and fruit of Bromelia laciniosa can be boiled and ground to extract a starchy substance that, when dried, can be consumed as a flour that is a fiber and calcium rich source; in fact, the calcium content of this plant is the highest of any known plant species, evident by its 15 to 1 ratio of calcium content relative to cow milk.
Wild Banana · Heart Of Flame · Bromelia binotii · Bromelia chrysantha · Bromelia goeldiana · Bromelia hemisphaerica · Bromelia hieronymi · Dwarf Bromelia · Bromelia karatas · Bromelia lagopus · Bromelia palmeri · Ananas
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Bromelia laciniosa by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
