Q 01/05

On which continent is the pineapple plant native?

A) South America

B) Southeast Asia

C) Africa

D) Australia

Answer · why

A) South America

The wild plant comes from the Paraná–Paraguay river basins between southern Brazil and Paraguay.

Q 02/05

What is the pineapple's scientific name?

A) Musa acuminata

B) Ananas comosus

C) Carica papaya

D) Mangifera indica

Answer · why

B) Ananas comosus

'Ananas' comes from the Tupi word nanas, which most European languages still use for the fruit.

Q 03/05

Pineapples belong to which plant family?

A) Rosaceae

B) Cactaceae

C) Bromeliaceae

D) Solanaceae

Answer · why

C) Bromeliaceae

It is by far the most economically important bromeliad; most of its relatives are ornamental air plants.

Q 04/05

Which explorer was the first European to encounter a pineapple, on Guadeloupe in 1493?

A) Ferdinand Magellan

B) Vasco da Gama

C) Amerigo Vespucci

D) Christopher Columbus

Answer · why

D) Christopher Columbus

He carried it back to Spain and called it piña de Indes, 'pine of the Indians'.

Q 05/05

Why did 17th-century English speakers apply a word for 'pine cone' to the tropical newcomer?

A) 'Apple' then covered any firm, round tree crop

B) It was first grown among Caribbean pine plantations

C) Its juice was said to smell strongly of pine resin

D) A London printer misspelled 'fine apple' in 1624

Answer · why

A) 'Apple' then covered any firm, round tree crop

'Pine apple' originally meant a pine cone; John Smith applied it to the tropical fruit in 1624.