The Bromeliaceae is a large tropical and temperate New World family which is familiar to most people because of its inclusion of such species as pineapples and Spanish moss. There are about 45 genera and some 2000 species in this diverse family, all in the Americas except for one on the west coast of Africa. It was Columbus who encountered pineapples being cultivated in the West Indies, but the Incas, Aztecs and Mayas were well familiar with bromeliads and used them for a variety of purposes. By Linnaeus's time, 14 genera had been named. The family is divided into three sub-families, spiny-leaved terrestrial species, tank bromeliads which can store water in a "tank" formed by their tightly-overlapping leaf bases, and epiphytes. The family takes its name from the genus Bromelia which was named for the 17th century Swedish botanist Olof Bromol.