piassava

Noun

piassava (countable and uncountable, plural piassavas)

1. A fibrous product of two Brazilian palm trees (Attalea funifera and Leopoldinia piassaba), formerly used in making brooms and for other purposes.
   • Common brushes and brooms made of bristles, rice straw, piassava, and other animal or vegetable stuffs; also mounted with wood or iron, not colored, without polish or varnish:1893, United States Congressional serial set, page 150
   • In Santa Cruz, for instance, where laborers are scarce and the means of communication bad, the gatherers of piassava are paid at the rate of from 2 to 3 milreis (the milreis is equivalent to about 30 cents) per arroba; [...]. The British syndicate above referred to uses [...] steel cleaves for...1909, Bulletin of the International Bureau of the American Republics, page 678
2. Either of these two trees.