# pineapple
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pineapple/234695
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [March 16, 2004, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pineapple/234695 "2004-03-16T20:05:13Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@darkbooty02](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/darkbooty02)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2004, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pineapple/234695/1 "2004-03-16T20:05:13Z")
**I recently read that a pineapple is classified as a berry. Is this correct? If so, why?**
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### Author:  [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2004, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pineapple/234695/2 "2004-03-16T20:13:27Z")
> [@](#):
>
> 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pineapple)**
>
> The pineapple (Ananas comosus) is a tropical plant with an edible fruit and is the most economically significant plant in the family Bromeliaceae. The pineapple is indigenous to South America, where it has been cultivated for many centuries. The introduction of the pineapple to Europe in the 17th century made it a significant cultural icon of luxury. Since the 1820s, pineapple has been commercially grown in greenhouses and many tropical plantations. Further, it is the third most importan Pin...
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### Author:  [@guiness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guiness)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2004, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pineapple/234695/3 "2004-03-16T23:07:23Z")
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.