Pineapple

Ananas comosus, commonly called pineapple, is a terrestrial bromeliad that was originally discovered growing in tropical areas of South America (principally Brazil). Carib Indians reportedly brought this plant to the Caribbean. Columbus saw his first pineapple on Guadeloupe in 1493. During the 1500s and 1600s, this fruit was distributed around the world with the help of sailing ships. Today, pineapples are one of the most popular fruits in the world. In tropical areas, they are grown both commercially for their excellent fruit and ornamentally as landscape plants. In temperate regions such as zone 5 or colder, they may be grown in warm greenhouses or indoors as houseplants. In warm areas such as southern Florida, southern Texas or southern California, plants may be grown outdoors in protected locations, but such plants are intolerant of frost and will weaken and show damage from winter temperatures significantly below 60 degrees F. Outdoors, pineapple plants typically grow 3-4’ tall (leaves to 3’ or more and fruit to 1’ taller) and as wide. Stiff, tough, narrow, sword-shaped, evergreen, gray-green leaves usually with sawtoothed edges appear in basal rosettes. Prior to flowering, the stem in the rosette center lengthens and enlarges. Purple or red flowers (50-200) then bloom in a large inflorescence. Topped by a compact crown of leaves, the pineapple fruit (a syncarp) forms and matures to 12” long or more with a weight up to 14 pounds.