Pineapples beside the Engineering Building of our uni.
Common Name: Pineapple, Ananas, Nanas, Pina
Botanical Name: Ananas comosus
Bromeliaceae
Bromeliaceae
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.
