VARIEGATED PINEAPPLE FROM PUERTO RICO by ALEJANDRO SANTIAGO
in Brom. Soc. Bull. 20(1): 3-7. 1970
The pineapple family, Bromeliaceae, is composed of stemless herbs native to tropical America whence they have been disseminated to other areas of the world. They have. stiff and sometimes spiny leaves. One of the best known members of this family is the genus Ananas, to which the commercial pineapple varieties belong.
The genus Ananas comprise a large group of plants that are very suitable for ornamental purposes because of the beautiful foliage, their colors, their shape, their attractive fruits, the variegation of the leaves and crowns of the fruit.
The author has been able to collect and cultivate in large scale different varieties of variegated Ananas Comosus. Seven of these are described below.
l. Ananas comosus variegatus. Var. Golden Rocket
A.Fruit cylindrical, conic in shape, 7 inches long by 5 inches diameter at base and 4 inches at apex; fruit deep copper-green in color with a silvery cast.
B.Crown 6-8 inches long by 5-6 inches across, crown leaves crowded and numerous, smooth margined crown leaves with one broad clear yellow central strip or the yellow strip with one to several continuous to interrupted slender green strips; apex acute to
acuminate recurved prominently at base and. only slightly above; all the leaves have a silvery-grey cast which is very prominent below. No slips develop at base of crown.
C.Vegetative leaves with a single bright yellow, broad central strip and bright green on either side, both the green and the yellow strips may have continuous or broken lines within them, the yellow usually occupies 3/5 of the width of leaf; the margin is smooth and very pale yellow.
D.Slips - Base of fruit produces an occasional slip only, none is produced at the base of crown.
2. Ananas comosus variegatus. Var. Naranjito
A.Fruit cylindrical to barrel shaped, 3 ½ to 4¼ inches long by 3 to 3½ inches wide; deep cherry red in color flushed with a little green at base of segments (eyes); the scales are gray tipped and with 1 - 4 short grey lines.
B.Crown 3 to 6 inches long by 3½ to 6 inches wide; leaves crowded and are smooth to unevenly fine toothed; lower draws recurved at apex, upper stiffly erect; color green with a deep reddish cast and narrow yellowish to reddish borders.
C.Leaves with a broad dull green central strip and bordered by a single marginal strip on either side which tends to be yellow in the vegetative state and pink to red in the fruiting state; the margin is smooth; very little color below.
D.Slips - Crown produces no slips but the base of the fruit produces 7 - 15 slips depending on vigor and age of plant.
3. Ananas comosus variegatus. Var. Puerto Rico
A.Fruit cylindrical to barrel shaped, to 6 inches long by 4½ inches wide, segments cherry-red at the base and greyish-silver in the center; edible.
B.Crown - 5 inches tall by 5 inches wide; leaves with a very wide pale green central strip and a narrow pale yellow-green marginal strip; basal leaves slightly recurved upper stiffly erect; margin smooth but with a few straight to upward curved spines at apex and/or base.
C.Leaves with a broad central pale green strip (usually solid color and a pale yellow-green marginal strip; margin smooth to a few scattered small upwards curved spines (mostly at apex and base).
D.Slips - None at base and crown but 0 to 7 at base of fruit.
4. Ananas comosus variegatus. Var. Linares
A. Fruit cylindrical 4 inches long by 3 inches wide. Small bright pinkish-red with medium sized greyish tipped scales; margin of scales with soft erect short spines; of poor eating quality.
B.Crown - Medium sized (4 inches by 4 inches) and occasionally fasciated; leaves strongly recurved at apex; margin spiny with pink to lavender, small upcurved spines; leaf with a green central strip and a wide cream colored margin; occasionally a leaf is almost completely cream colored.
C.Leaf with a medium broad central strip and a marginal strip of cream to cream with a pinkish blush; the small single and double upward curved spines are a deeper pink to red than the marginal strip.
D.Slips - None at the base of the crown but an average of 10 develops at the base of the fruit.
5. Ananas comosus variegatus. Var. porteanus
A.Fruit much like # 1 in size and color but the bracts instead of being small and spineless are medium sized with a few small marginal spines; they are pinkish red instead of greyish also.
B.Crown fairly large, 6 inches long by 6 inches wide; margin spiny with mostly small single upcurved reddish spines (or few double spines); the leaves have a deep green margin fading to pale greenish with a red blush.
C.Leaves with a broad central strip of a pale greenish-cream color with a pinkish-red blush; the deep green margin is rather broad; the spiny margin is similar to the spines of the crown leaves.
D.Slips - Mostly 3 at base of crown and 5 at base of fruit.
6. Ananas bracteatus. Var tricolor
A.Fruit elongate cylindrical (5" by 3") reddish-pink fading to greenish-white as it matures; the bracts are very large, pink with recurved apexes and spiny margined.
B. Crown very large in comparison to fruit size (6 inches tall by 7 inches wide); all the
leaves have recurved apexes; the broad central green strip of the crown leaves is often streaked with several cream to pale greenish stripes; and bordered by a narrow to broad whitish stripe; the margin and large upcurved single spines are reddish-pink; the leaf is occasionally cream with a narrow red border.
C.Leaves have a broad green central strip which is frequently streaked with lighter stripes and bordered by a white to pink strip; the margin and large, distant upcurved spines are reddish.
D.Slips numerous at base of crown (and average of 20) and only 1 to 3 at base of fruit. 7. Ananas bracteatus. Var. variegata
A.Fruit long cylindrical 7½ inches long x 3 inches wide, very similar otherwise to #6.
B.Crown large as in #6 but apexes of leaves not so recurved (few in number, not dense or crowded). It differs from #6 in that the broad central area is broader, the white to cream area is very narrow with only a few green streaks in it and no prominent red area at the base of the spines; the spines are, however, the same as in #6.
C.Leaves the same as the crown leaves.
D.Slips average 20 at base of crown and only 1-3 at base of fruit.
The author wishes to express thanks to Dr. Roy Woodbury, taxonomist from the Agricultural Experiment Station, University of Puerto Rico, for helping in the description of the plants, and to Dr. Julio Bird for the photographs.