We might have the fixed knowledge that only green plants produce oxygen. The chlorophyll pigments, which do the process of photosynthesis are green. But photosynthesizing pigments are not only green, just that the green is the most prevalent. Other photosynthesizing pigments not confined to chlorophylls have all the colors of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, indigo, and violet. So the whole range of the visible light we commonly know as ROYGVIB corresponds to the photosynthesizing pigments.The non-absorbed part of the light spectrum is what gives photosynthetic organisms their color or the color we see, as in green plants, red algae, purple bacteria.
The secret why bright colors show off or predominantly manifest in autumn or during fruit ripening is....disintegration of the green pigments and unmasking these bright colors. So the bright colors are already there in the first place!
So what do we have here? Stages in the life of a developing pineapple.
Pineapple is also a bromeliad, so this pineapple variety very much looks like one.
A pineapple is also called a multiple fruit because each of those small portion called eyes is one fruit.
If you are not yet convinced, look at these purple flowers that take turns in blooming. The more mature ones are at the bottom and opens first. Each of those flowers will become one fruit and if properly pollinated, you will see those small black seeds embedded in the pulp when eating the pineapple pulp.
The flowers don't bloom at the same time, so the above fruit shows the blooms at the middle, the lower portions already finished blooming, while the top portions are still immature flowers to bloom at later dates.
Do you notice that the top leaves are already growing in this photo. This has already finished blooming and is already the maturing fruit,. The individual fruits are very visible here and fused together to make the multiple fruit. It might take a few more weeks before this is ready for picking. This Red Spanish Variety, is much different than the Smooth Cayenne we are familiar with in the supermarkets. Those protruding small pups at the bottom are called slips, they can be planted to be individual plants, and mature earlier than if you will plant the crown.
We have this heirloom variety in our property. The fruits are sweeter but smaller than the common table variety. The leaves are saw-toothed at the edges. These leaves are the source of fibers producing the fine
piña cloths and make the expensive formal Filipino suits and dresses called
Barong Tagalog.
