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给郭宝崑的一封信(3) - 文扬
Thursday, December 8, 2011 // 3:40 PM Dear Mr Kuo, The pineapple is a herbaceous perennial which grows to 1.0 to 1.5 meters (3.3 to 4.9 ft) tall, although sometimes it can be taller. In appearance, the plant itself has a short, stocky stem with tough, waxy leaves. When creating its fruit, it usually produces up to 200 flowers, although some large-fruited cultivars can exceed this. Once it flowers, the individual fruits of the flowers join together to create what is commonly referred to as a pineapple. After the first fruit is produced, side shoots (called 'suckers' by commercial growers) are produced in the leaf axils of the main stem. These may be removed for propagation, or left to produce additional fruits on the original plant. Commercially, suckers that appear around the base are cultivated. It has 30 or more long, narrow, fleshy, trough-shaped leaves with sharp spines along the margins that are 30 to 100 centimeters (1.0 to 3.3 ft) long, surrounding a thick stem. In the first year of growth the axis lengthens and thickens, bearing numerous leaves in close spirals. After 12 to 20 months the stem grows into a spike-like inflorescence up to 15 cm long with over 100 spirally arranged, trimerous flowers, each subtended by a bract. Flower colors vary, depending on variety, from lavender, through light purple to red. And then the pineapples are plucked, cut, cubed and sent on the processing belt. Shoved into cans. Branded, labeled, boxed. And then no one remembers. No one remembers what pineapples are, how did pineapples come to look like the way they are. What is a pineapple? Is it a herbaceous perennial which grows to 1.0 to 1.5 meters tall? Or bright yellow rings nestled in sugar syrup? Are we the former? Or the latter? Yours sincerely Woon Yong |
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