Description
Ananas nanus – This native to Surinam and Brazil grows 18” tall and 2’ feet wide. It bears arching dark green leaves 24” long with upward pointing spiny edges. In summer cone shaped inflorescences 4” long consisting of lilac-purple or red flowers with small yellow bracts, followed by 4” long fruit with a large crown.
Zones 14-15
Ananas –Pineapple
There are about 8 species of bromeliads, in this genus. Some have an importance as a commercial crop as well as an ornamental’s and as houseplants. They derive from fairly dry to extremely humid areas from South America. They are large rosettes of narrow tapering tough leaves with sharply toothed or spiny edges. The flowers cone like usually reddish purple each backed by a bract and borne in crowded head at the top of a short stout stem that emerges from the center of the leaf rosette. The fruits are edible.
When grown indoors use bromeliad-potting mix in full light with low to moderate humidity and in a draft free conditions. Water freely during growing and flowering periods. Reduce watering when fruits begin to swell and apply a balanced liquid fertilizer weekly. Keep barely moist at other times of the year.
Where able to grow outdoors (where temperatures don’t fall below 59 degree Fahrenheit) in well drained fertile, humus rich soil in full sun.
Prone to wet root rot, fruit rot, Mealy bugs, and scale insects.
