PINE-APPLE, or ANANAS, Ananassa satire., a plant of the natural order bromeliacece, highly esteemed, and much cultivated for its fruit. The fruit is it sorosis, formed by the calyces and bracts of a close spike of flowers, becoming succulent and combined. This is the distinctive character of the genus Ananassa. The pine-apple has a number of long, serrated, sharp-pointed, rigid leaves, springing from the root, in the midst of which a short I:lower-stem is thrown up, bearing a single spike of flowers, and, therefore, a single fruit. From the summit of the fruit springs a crown or tuft of small leaves, capable of becoming a new plant, and very generally used by gardeners for planting; the pine-apple. in cultivation, being propagated entirely by crowns and suckers, as, in a state of high cultivation, perfect seed is almost never produced. The pine-apple is a native of tropical America; it is found wild in sandy maritime districts in the n.c. of South America, but it has been very much changed by cultivation. It has also been gradually diffused over tropical and subtropical countries, and not only as a cultivated plant, for it is fully naturalized in many parts both of Asia and A friea. It delights in a moist climate, and consequently does not suceced well in the dry climate of the s. of Italy, although the warmth is sufficient. The first particular account of the pine-apple was given by Oviedo in 1535. It was in Holland that it first began to be cultivated in hot-houses; but it was introduced into England in the end of the 17th c., and its cultiva tion rapidly became general in the gardens of the wealthy. It is only since the peace of 1815 that it has received similar attention in continental Europe. Great care is requisite in the cultivation of the pine-apple, which, without it, is generally fibrous and coarse. with little sweetness or flavor; and with it, one of the most delicate. and richly flavored of fruits. Its size also very much depends on cultivation. The size varies from 21- lbs. to 12 lbs. in weight.. The pine-apples grown in British hot-houses arc generally much superior to those of the West Indies, because the latter grow almost or altogether with oat cultivation; but the importation of pine-apples from the West Indies having now been carried on to a considerable extent, and promising to add to the sources of wealth for these colonies, has led to greater care in cultivation there, and consequent improve ment of quality.
In the cultivation of the pine-apple in Britain, a tropical heat must always be main lathed. It is generally cultivated in hot-houses specially appropriated to it, called pineries or pine-stoves; sometimes also in fined pits; and sometimes even without fire heat, in frames continually supplied with fresh tanners' bark and dung. The univeysal practice, till of late, was to grow the plants in pots, plunged to the requisite depth in tanners' bark or other fermenting matter, mid these were transferred from one house or one compartment to another, to their stage of advancement; three years' cul ture being deemed requisite from the planting of a crown or sucker to the production of the ripe fruit; but the pine-apple is now often planted in beds, and fruit of the best quality is sometimes obtained in 15 months. The best soil is a rich and rather sandy loam. It is often formed from the turf of old pastures, with dung, peat, sand, etc., thoroughly mixed. Ventilation must be freely allowed from time to time, but care must be taken to keep the atmosphere moist. A pine-apple which has borne fruit is thrown away as useless.
There are many varieties of the pine-apple in cultivation. Of these, some are referred by some botanists to distinct species. But the greater number of varieties are univer sally referred to A. saliva, and differ in the more or less spiny serratures of the leaves, the globular, cylindrical, or pyramidal fruit, its size, etc.
A spirituous liquor (pine-apple rum) is made from the pine-apple in some warm countries.
The use of the fiber of the pine-apple is noticed in the article BROMELIACELE,