What does the pineapple plant look like?
The pineapple plant is a rosette of long fleshy pointed leaves around a terminal bud. Eventually this bud gives rise to the flowering stem. Numerous sessile (stemless) reddish purple flowers, each subtended by a pointed bract (a leaf-like structure), are arranged spirally around the stem. The flowering head is surmounted by a crown of short stiff leaves. The fruit is formed from the thickened stem surrounded by 100-200 individual fruitlets fused together. Its tough waxy rind consists of the pointed bracts and the remains of the flowers which persist after the fruits are formed. In cultivated pineapples, the fruits are formed parthenocarpically – that is they develop without pollination and fertilisation taking place – and consequently they do not contain seeds.
