The Collection of Pineapple Fibers—Ananas comosus (Bromeliaceae)—at the Harvard University Herbaria

Abstract. The Economic Botany Collection at Harvard University contains economically and culturally important plants from around the world and is one of the largest collections of its kind. The collection houses a unique set of twenty-five pineapple fabrics (Ananas comosus) that reveal the historical and contemporary uses of this important fiber plant. An inventory of the raw and processed pineapple fibers was taken and each specimen was examined with regard to its corresponding collection data.