Bromelia pinguin

Bromelia pinguin is a plant species in the genus Bromelia. This species is native to Central America, Mexico, the West Indies and northern South America.^[2] It is also reportedly naturalized in Florida.^[2] It is very common in Jamaica, where it is planted as a fence around pasture lands, on account of its prickly leaves, and has historically been used as an herbal abortifacient^[3]. The plant can be stripped of its pulp, soaked in water, and beaten with a wooden mallet, and it yields a fiber whence thread is made. In Nicaragua and El Salvador it is used to make gruel.^[4][5]

Bromelia pinguin
1821 illustration[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Monocots
Clade:	Commelinids
Order:	Poales
Family:	Bromeliaceae
Genus:	Bromelia
Species:	B. pinguin
Binomial name
Bromelia pinguin L.
Synonyms[2]
Karatas pinguin (L.) Mill. Ananas pinguin (L.) Gaertn. Agallostachys pinguin (L.) Beer Bromelia fastuosa Lindl. Bromelia sepiaria Schult. & Schult.f. Agallostachys fastuosa (Lindl.) Beer Bromelia ignea Beer

History

Bromelia pinguin is mentioned in the diaries of Thomas Thistlewood, an 18th century slave-owner and plantation owner living in Jamaica. Thistlewood notes his use of Bromelia pinguin as a natural fence. Additionally, there is evidence that enslaved women on Thistlewood's plantations used Bromelia pinguin as an herbal abortifacient to terminate pregnancies caused by Thistlewood's sexual assaults.^[6]

Bromelia pinguin (Piñuela) in El Crucero, Managua, Nicaragua.

Bromelia pinguin flower in El Crucero, Managua, Nicaragua