ABSTRACT

Pineapple (Ananas comosus [L.] Merrill) is a terrestrial member of the family Bromeliaceae. It is the only member of the family which produces a fruit of importance in commerce. Pineapple and other members of the genus Ananas are separated from other genera in the family on the basis of fruit morphology, and from the closely related genus Pseudananas by the presence of a crown of conspicuous bracts borne at the top of the fruit. 1 , 2 The major commercial cultivar is Smooth Cayenne, though several other cultivars are grown. 3 Because of its importance, most of the literature reviewed for this paper reports results obtained with Smooth Cayenne.