2 



mouth, yet hurt the gums of such as too frequently 

 feed thereon." The woodcut demonstrates that it is 

 the pine apple to which his observations refer. 



Parkinson, in his " Theatrum Botanicum," pub- 

 lished in 1640, is much more copious in his descrip- 

 tion, more accurate in his delineation, and gives much 

 more information concerning its history. He calls it 

 " Anana seu Pina, the West Indian delicious Pine 

 and proceeds to state that it was-first brought from 

 Santa Cruz, in Brazil, where it grows wild ; and was 

 thence introduced to the East and West Indies, being 

 not a native of either. In Brazil, it was called by 

 the natives nana and anana, but by the Spaniards 

 and Portuguese pinas. Parkinson, however, knew 

 little of its properties, speaking of them only by re- 

 port, and enumerating as among them, that if the 

 blade of a knife be left sticking in one of them, that 

 portion of the blade will next day be found corroded 

 entirely away. It was certainly not then cultivated 

 in this country, for we had then no glazed structures, 

 which we know are necessary for its successful culti- 

 vation ; and Parkinson does not even mention it in 

 his great gardening book, the " Paradisus," published 

 in 1656. 



It was first introduced into England by Mr. Ben- 

 tick, afterwards Earl of Portsmouth, in 1 690,' but 

 merely as a plant worthy of being added to our great 

 national botanical collection, and without any sugges- 



