pineapple

[darkbooty02]

I recently read that a pineapple is classified as a berry. Is this correct? If so, why?

[Ephemera]

The Pineapple (Ananas comosus) is a tropical plant and its fruit, native to Brazil, Bolivia, and Paraguay. The plant is a bromeliad (Family Bromeliaceae), a short, herbaceous perennial with thirty or more long, spined and pointed leaves surrounding a thick stem. Hummingbirds are the natural pollinators.

**The single fruit develops from many smaller berries fusing together (called a multiple-accessory fleshy fruit). ** It is large and ovoid with a tough, spikey, waxy shell of many hexagonal sections, containing large amounts of white or yellow flesh with a tough, fibrous core. Depending on variety, the fruit can be up to 30 cm long and weigh more than 4 kg.

Pineapple

[guiness]

Pineapple, as shown by Aesiron is a multiple fruit, as is the mulberry.

Botanically speaking, bramble berries (blackberries, raspberries etc) are not berries either but aggregate fruits, several ovaries from one flower, as opposed to the multiple fruit with several ovaries from several flowers.

Real berries include some fruits from the families Solanaceae (tomato, eppplant) and Ericaceae( blueberry, cranberry).

Interestingly enough, two specialized types of berry exist. The Hesperidium, i.e. citrus fruits, and the Pepo, i.e. Cucurbits such as pumpkin, squash and melons.