12 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[Jan. 1, 1S67. 



Eig. 3. PINE APPLE {Ananassa sativa). 



Before us lies a list of names by which the pine- 

 apple is known in about forty languages or dialects, 

 and the root of the majority of them is the original 

 South American Nonas; from which the Tamul 

 Anasa, and the Arabic Anannas, as well as the 

 generic Latin name, by which the plant is known to 

 botanists, is derived. There is but little doubt that 

 America was the original home of the pine-apple, 

 whence it became introduced into eastern and southern 

 Asia. How it got into Africa we do not pretend to 

 explain, nor would we like to assert that it is not 



known anywhere on the habitable globe, wherever 

 the temperature is sufficient for its production. 



When Oliver Cromwell ruled in these realms, a 

 present of pine-apples was one of the things which 

 fell to his lot, and this was probably the first intro- 

 duction of the fruit into England, although it was 

 known on the Continent four years previously. Eour 

 years afterwards and Evelyn writes of its appear- 

 ance on the royal table. 



But the fruit, however much it may have been 

 extolled, is not the only good product of this plant. 



