Purple Flowering
Did you know that the fruit of the pineapple is actually made up of many fruitlets? That is to say the pineapple is not a single fruit, but actually a composite fruit. Each eye of the pineapple is a single fruit. This is more evident during the early development of the fruit. When the fruit emerges, each eye develops a single purple flower starting first in the eyes at the bottom of the fruit and gradually will move to the top. Over the period of many days, each fruitlet will produce a flower. This flowering pattern demonstrates that the bottom of the composite pineapple fruit is physiologically older than the top of the fruit and for this reason, the slices of fruit from the bottom are slightly sweeter than the top slices.
Bromeliads
Bromeliads
For the plant lovers, it is interesting to note that the pineapple plant is a cousin of the Bromeliads, which are well known ornamental plants. They belong to the plant family known as Bromeliaceae. The pineapple is the only edible member of this family. However, they share many other characteristics as you can see in the fotos. Most of the bromeliads are epiphyts, which means their natural habitat is to grow on the branches of the trees. However, the bromeliades are not parasites. They merely use the tree branch as support.
Dr. Lloyd