Identity:
The pineapple plant is familiar to all of us. Its leaves are long and sword-shaped, with sharp tips and serrated, thorny edges.
The leaves grow two to three feet in length and two to three inches in width. From the tip of the leafy stem emerges a flower stalk, which produces a single fruit. The fruit is green when unripe and turns deep yellow and fragrant when ripe. Its surface is covered with eye-like markings.
At the top of the fruit sits a small crown-like plant. Sometimes small side shoots also sprout from the fruit stalk; these can be planted to grow new plants.
Pineapple plants bloom at the beginning of the monsoon, and the fruits ripen in autumn. Occasionally tiny, oval, hard seeds develop inside the ripe fruit, though these seeds cannot produce new plants.
Uses:
Unripe pineapple tastes sour; ripe fruit is fragrant, sweet, and juicy. It acts as a tonic, increases kapha and pitta, and promotes urination and sweating.
The juice of ripe pineapple aids digestion. It is beneficial and strengthening for jaundice and scurvy.
Pineapple leaf juice helps eliminate intestinal worms and soothe coughs.
Unripe pineapple can induce miscarriage.
If the juice of unripe pineapple is taken with salt, it may cause miscarriage within twelve hours during the first three to four months of pregnancy.
