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in close spirals. After 12 to 20 months, the stem grows into a spike-like inflorescence up to
15 cm (6 in) long with over 100 spirally arranged, trimerous flowers, each subtended by a bract.

The ovaries develop into berries, which coalesce into a large, compact, multiple fruit. The fruit
of a pineapple is arranged in two interlocking helices, eight in one direction, 13 in the other,
each being a Fibonacci number.[12]

The pineapple carries out CAM photosynthesis,[13] fixing carbon dioxide at night and storing it
as the acid malate, then releasing it during the day aiding photosynthesis.

The pineapple comprises five botanical varieties, formerly regarded as separate species: [14]

Ananas comosus var. ananassoides

Ananas comosus var. bracteatus
Ananas comosus var. comosus
Ananas comosus var. erectifolius
Ananas comosus var. parguazensis

Pollination
In the wild, pineapples are pollinated primarily by hummingbirds.[2][15] Certain wild pineapples
are foraged and pollinated at night by bats.[16]

Under cultivation, because seed development diminishes fruit quality, pollination is performed
by hand, and seeds are retained only for breeding.[2] Specifically in Hawaii, where pineapples
were cultivated and canned industrially throughout the 20th century,[17] importation of
hummingbirds was prohibited.[18]

History
The plant is indigenous to South America and is said to originate from the area between
southern Brazil and Paraguay;[2] however, little is known about the origin of the domesticated
pineapple (Pickersgill, 1976). MS Bertoni (1919)[19] considered the Paraná–Paraguay River
drainages to be the place of origin of A. comosus.[20] The natives of southern Brazil and
Paraguay spread the pineapple throughout South America, and it eventually reached the
Caribbean, Central America, and Mexico, where it was cultivated by the Mayas and the Aztecs.
Columbus encountered the pineapple in 1493 on the leeward island of Guadeloupe. He called it
piña de Indes, meaning "pine of the Indians", and brought it back with him to Spain, thus
making the pineapple the first bromeliad to be introduced by humans outside of the New
World.[21] The Spanish introduced it into the Philippines, Hawaii (introduced in the 18th
century,[22] first commercial plantation 1886), Zimbabwe, and Guam. The Portuguese took the
fruit from Brazil and introduced it into India by 1550.[23]

The pineapple was brought to northern Europe by the Dutch from their colony in Surinam. The

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