Nana – native Indian name for the fruit of A. comosus.
Terrestrial herbs not producing runners. Leaves in a dense rosette, rigid, linear-lanceolate, acuminate, grey-green, scaly beneath, usually spinose. Inflorescence terminal on a slender scape, densely coneshaped; floral bracts persistent, spiny margins; petals erect, violet-red or white. Ovaries fused to form a fleshy, compound fruit or syncarp, with a terminal crown of sterile, leaf-like bracts with or without spiny margins. Pronunciation Anay-nus.
Offsets from the bottom of the fruit or by the crown of bracts (the 'top') removed from the ripe fruit. Requires warmth in winter and popular with botanic gardens. Rarely fruiting in southern Australia.
8 species from South America; only three are found in cultivation.
A. comosus and varieties are the commercial Pineapple.
Source: (2005). Bromeliaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 5. Flowering plants. Monocotyledons. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.
