Pine Apple

pineapple, (Ananas comosus), perennial plant of the family Bromeliaceae and its edible fruit. Pineapple is native to tropical and subtropical America and has been introduced elsewhere. The fruit has become a characteristic ingredient in the meat, vegetable, fish, and rice dishes of what is loosely termed Pan-Asian cuisine. The fruit is eaten fresh where available and in canned form worldwide. In the United States and in Europe it is sometimes used as a pastry filling or in baked desserts.

The plant has 30 to 40 stiff succulent leaves closely spaced in a rosette on a thick fleshy stem. In commercial varieties about 15 to 20 months after planting, a determinate inflorescence forms on a flower stalk 100–150 mm (4–6 inches) in length. The originally separate light purple flowers, together with their bracts, each attached to a central axis core, become fleshy and fuse to form the pineapple fruit, which ripens five to six months after flowering begins. Fruits of commercial varieties range from 1 to 2 kg (2 to 4 pounds) in weight.