Pineapples grow as a small shrub; the individual flowers of the unpollinated plant fuse to form a multiple fruit.

The plant normally propagates from the offset produced at the top of the fruit[2][5] or from a side shoot, and typically matures within a year.

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.

[27] Columbus brought the plant back to Spain and called it piña de Indes, meaning "pine of the Indians".

The pineapple was documented in Peter Martyr's Decades of the New World (1516) and Antonio Pigafetta's Relazione del primo viaggio intorno al mondo (1524–1525), and the first known illustration was in Oviedo's Historia General de Las Indias (1535).

[28] While the pineapple fascinated Europeans as a fruit of colonialism,[29] it was not successfully cultivated in Europe until Pieter de la Court (1664–1739) developed greenhouse horticulture near Leiden.

In Russia, Peter the Great imported de la Court's method into St. Petersburg in the 1720s; in 1730, twenty pineapple saplings were transported from there to a greenhouse at Empress Anna's new Moscow palace.

[33][34] Because of the expense of direct import and the enormous cost in equipment and labour required to grow them in a temperate climate, in greenhouses called "pineries", pineapple became a symbol of wealth.

[36] In the second half of the 18th century, the production of the fruit on British estates became the subject of great rivalry between wealthy aristocrats.

The most significant cultivar was "Smooth Cayenne", first imported to France in 1820, then subsequently re-exported to the United Kingdom in 1835, and then from UK, the cultivation spread via Hawaii to Australia and Africa.

[25] Jams and sweets based on pineapple were imported to Europe from the West Indies, Brazil, and Mexico from an early date.

By the early 19th century, fresh pineapples were transported direct from the West Indies in large enough quantities to reduce European prices.

[25] Later pineapple production was dominated by the Azores for Europe, and Florida and the Caribbean for North America, because of the short trade routes.

[58] Bromelain is under preliminary research for treatment of a variety of clinical disorders, but has not been adequately defined for its effects in the human body.

[60] Although pineapple enzymes can interfere with the preparation of some foods or manufactured products, such as gelatin-based desserts or gel capsules,[61] their proteolytic activity responsible for such properties may be degraded during cooking and canning.

Many cultivars have become distributed from its origins in Paraguay and the southern part of Brazil, and later improved stocks were introduced into the Americas, the Azores, Africa, India, Malaysia and Australia.

Chunks of pineapple are used in desserts such as fruit salad, as well as in some savory dishes, including the Hawaiian pizza, or as a grilled ring on a hamburger.

Traditional dishes that use pineapple include hamonado, afritada, kaeng som pla, and Hawaiian haystack.

The juice of the pineapple is served as a beverage, and it is also the main ingredient in cocktails such as the piña colada and in the drink tepache.

These were woven into lustrous lace-like nipis fabrics usually decorated with intricate floral embroidery known as calado and sombrado.

The fabric was a luxury export from the Philippines during the Spanish colonial period and gained favor among European aristocracy in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Domestically, they were used to make the traditional barong tagalog, baro't saya, and traje de mestiza clothing of the Filipino upper class, as well as women's kerchiefs (pañuelo).

In Costa Rica particularly, the pineapple industry uses large amounts of insecticides to protect the crop, which have caused health problems in many workers.

[79][80] Export pineapples from Costa Rica to Europe are often used as a cover for narcotrafficking, and containers are impounded routinely in both locations.

[81] In Costa Rica, pineapple cultivation has expanded into the Maquenque, Corredor Fronterizo, Barra del Colorado and Caño Negro wildlife refuges, all located in the north of the country.

The causal agents of pink disease are the bacteria Acetobacter aceti, Gluconobacter oxydans, Pantoea citrea[85][86] and Tatumella ptyseos.

[87][88] Some pests that commonly affect pineapple plants are scales, thrips, mites, mealybugs, ants, and symphylids.

Since it is difficult to treat, it is advisable to guard against infection by planting resistant cultivars where these are available; all suckers that are required for propagation should be dipped in a fungicide, since the fungus enters through the wounds.