BROMBERG

a town of Pru ia, in the province of Posen, and 69 miles N.E. of the city of that name, capital of the government and circle of Bromberg, is people, situated on the Brahe, 6 miles w. of its confluence of with the Yiatula. It is well built, has three suburbs, town-heJI, and contains a monastery, a convent, and several educational and charitable establishments. It has occupied in a large sugar-refinery, several tobacco and chicory manufactories, sevend flour and oil mills, potteries, and limekilns; also a vinegar-work, several distiller- Car is bro oke, ies, and breweries. It has likewise a considerable He trade in grain and wine, for which its situation on him the Brombex^ Canal gives it great advantages. For of a short time under Napoleon, Bromberg was restored the to the Poles, and formed the capital of a department series of the same name. Pop. in 1871, 27,734. of BROMELIACK£, a natural order of endogen of ous plants inhabiting the tropical regions. They are monoootyledonouB. The type of order is the genua Bromelia. The flowers are hermaphrodite, {generally regular, disposed in clusters sometimes very dense, more rarely on branched racemes. The leaves are alternate, elongated, narrow, toothed and spinous on the margins. The calyx is formed of six sepals, the three exterior ones shorter and le coloured, the interior ones longer and petaloid in form. The stamens are usually six, but sometimes fewer, inserted in the internal face of the sepals, sometimes quite at general their base. The style is simple, sometimes divided into three segments at its sunmiit, and terminated by with three stigmata. The fruit is capsular or succnlent, unpretending and many-seeded. They grow in the rich v^^etable soil of forests, or upon the branches of trees, round which they twist their roots, without being parasitical; they are consequently called air-plants. They frequently grow for months suspended in the air, after being severed from their roots. Their flowers in are white, crimson, blue, or purple, and are very v83 The fruit of the genus An an a a is the pine-apple. The leaves are hard, and are so contriv^ as to be able to hold water at the They are natives of the Antilles and other regions of America, but are naturalized in and Africa. Their fibres are valuable for a of purposes.