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PINEAPPLE
Ananas comosus
Bromeliaceae
Common Names: Pineapple, Ananas, Nanas, Pina.
Related Species: Pina de Playon (Ananas bracteatus).
Distant affinity: Pingwing (Aechmea magdalenae), Pinguin (Bromelia pinguin), Pinuela (Karatas plumier).
Origin: The pineapple is native to southern Brazil and Paraguay where wild relatives occur. It was spread by the Indians up through South and Central America to the West Indies before Columbus arrived. In 1493 Columbus found the fruit on the island of Guadaloupe and carried it back to Spain and it was spread around the world on sailing ships that carried it for protection against scurvy. The Spanish introduced it into the Philippines and may have taken it to Hawaii and Guam early in the 16th Century. The pineapple reached England in 1660 and began to be grown in greenhouses for its fruit around 1720.
Adaptation: The pineapples is a tropical or near-tropical plant, but will usually tolerate brief exposures to 28 F. Prolonged cold above freezing retards growth, delays maturity and causes the fruit to be more acid. Pineapples are drought-tolerant and will produce fruit under yearly precipitation rates ranging from 25 - 150 in., depending on cultivar and location and degree of atmospheric humidity. They are successfully grown in southern Florida and coastal areas of southern California. The small plant adapts well to container and greenhouse culture and makes an interesting potted plant.
The Pineapple
A weird building indeed! This folly was built in 1761 with the tower being beautifully built out of stone in the shape of a Pineapple.
The fact that pineapples were grown in the flanking buildings under 'hothouse' conditions perhaps gives some explanation to the building, there are vases on each side of the pineapple which are in fact chimneys for the furnaces that provided the heat to its real fruit. This building is hidden away from the main road in woodland and it is part of the North wall of a large walled garden.
The Pineapple is owned by the National Trust for Scotland and is open to the public.
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