366 



HISTOUY OP THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 



tiiict genera, and others considered them as only 

 species of one. In the Jiorttis Kewensis, in tlie 

 formation of which the very best authorities 

 have been consulted, six species are enumerated; 

 and, with the exception of the bromelia htcmilis 

 (dwarf,) they are all there represented as being 

 natives either of South America or the "West 

 Indies. Only one of the species is of any value 

 in cultivation, the others being merely wild 

 plants. The cultivated species is the ananas ; 

 the others are the pinguin, or broad-leaved; the 

 Jcarata,ox upright-leaved; tlie tongue-leaved, the 

 red-breasted, and the dwarf. 



In the form and combination of their leaves, 

 all the bromelias have some resemblance to each 

 other, and also to the aloe; but the only species 

 in which the seeds are united into one fleshy and 

 esculent strobile or ])ine, is the ananas. 



The pinguin species have the leaves very short 

 and strong about the root, and their edges are 

 armed with strong crooked spines. The fruits 

 are detached; each about the size of a walnut. 

 The pulp is sweet, but it is at the same time so 

 sharp as to be absolutely corrosive. A tuft of 

 leaves growing above the fruit makes the pinguin 

 look something like the pine apple, when seen 

 at a distance; but the detached fruit soon dis- 

 tinguishes it upon a closer inspection. Though 

 not edible, the pinguin is not without its use. 

 . It gi'ovvs readily and abundantly in the West 

 Indies, both on the fertile savannahs and the 

 mountains. It is hardy, and is formidable with 

 its spines, and thus it answers well for hedges. 

 The fibres of the leaves too, are very tough and 

 strong; and, when freed from the pulpy matter, 

 they are made into ropes. A small portion of 

 the juice mixed with water, fonns a very cooling 

 draught; and some of the varieties, which grow 

 so plentifully about Campeachy that it is hardly 

 possible to move amongst them, have their fruit 

 in clusters, and are not unpalatable. 



The Jcarata gi-ows in woods, under trees, both 

 in the West Indies and on the continent of 

 America. The leaves are six or seven feet long; 

 the fruit of an oval form, and from two to three 

 hundred in number upon a single plant. Before 

 •it is ripe the fruit is sour and acrid, but when 

 ripe it is not unpleasant. Until the fruit is ripe 

 it is defended by the spines of the leaves, so as 

 to be quite secure against injury. 



The tongue-leaved, the red-branched, and the 

 dwarf, are smaller species. The first and second 

 very much resemble some of the species of aloe 

 in their forms, and are found in most of the 

 West India islands. 



The ananas or pine apple, properly so called, 

 when of a good sort and healthy, is accounted the 

 best, at least the most luscious, fruit that this coun- 

 try produces; and, with careful cultivation, is equal 

 in quality to that of places where it is a native. 

 It b said even to be superior, because the English 



gardeners may, by skilful treatment and choice 

 of sorts, more than make up for the want of sun 

 and the deficiency of natural temperature. 



It has been said that the pine apple was brought 

 from Brazil, first to the West Indies, and thence 

 to the East; but the evidence is not complete. 

 It was known in Holland some time before its 

 introduction into this country; and even about 

 its introduction here there are some disputes. 

 The picture of king Charles II., with his gar- 

 dener pi'esenting him with a pine, said to be the 

 first grown in England, is rejected by the better 

 infoi-med authorities; and the pine, if ever such 

 a fruit was offered to that monarch, is supposed 

 to have been brought from Holland, or the pine 

 to have been presented, and the picture drawn, 

 before his return to this country. Mr Bentinck, 

 the ancestor of the duke of Portland, is, accord- 

 ing to the best accounts, supposed to have first 

 introduced and cultivated the pine in the year 

 1690; and this is rendered the more likely, from 

 the fact that he was previously acquainted with 

 the fruit in Holland. And yet the cultivation 

 of the pine had made so little progi-ess in England 

 a quarter of a century later, that lady Mary 

 Wortley Montagu, on her journey to Constan- 

 tinople in 1716, remarks the circumstance of pine 

 apples being served up in the dessert, at the 

 Electoral table at Hanover, as a thing she had 

 never before seen or heard of. 



Pine apples have been grown in this country 

 of an extraordinary size. One of the New Pro- 

 vidence kind, that weighed nine pounds, four 

 ounces, was presented to his Majesty in June, 

 1820, by John Edwards, Esq., of Rheola, Glam- 

 organshire, where it was grown. In July, 1821, 

 another Providence pine is mentioned, in the 

 Transactions of the Horticultural Society, to 

 have weighed ten pounds eight ounces : it was 

 grown by Mr Buchan, gardener to Lord Cawdor, 

 at Stackpool Court, Pembrokeshire. It was ten 

 inches and a half high, exclusive of the crown 

 and stalk, and twenty-two inches in circumfer- 

 ence. From the extraordinary size and beauty 

 of the fruit, it was thought proper by the Fel- 

 lows of the Horticultural Society to present it 

 to his Majesty, which was accordingly done; 

 a)id it was served up in the dessert at the royal 

 table at the Coronation banquet. Mr Buchan 

 raised three other pines of extraordinary weight 

 in the same season : one weighed ten pounds six 

 ounces; another, ten pounds two ounces; and a 

 third, nine pounds eight ounces; making the 

 total weight of the four, forty pounds eight 

 ounces. 



In the Indian Archipelago, and in China, an 

 extraordinary, monstrous state of the pine apple 

 is sometimes seen, called the many-headed pine. 

 It is caused by the plant producing branches 

 bearing fruit at each point; where, under common 

 circumstances, it produces single flowers. There 



