The plant has tough, waxy leaves and a short, stocky stem. It typically produces up to 200 flowers when it produces fruit, though some cultivars with large fruits can produce more. When it blooms, each of its individual fruits joins together to form a single fruit.

Side shoots, which commercial growers refer to as “suckers,” are produced in the main stem’s leaf axils following the emergence of the first fruit. These suckers can be removed for the purpose of propagation or left on the original plant to produce additional fruits.

The suckers that appear around the base are cultivated for commercial purposes. It has 30 or more narrow, fleshy, trough-shaped, 30 to 100 cm (1 to 3 1/2 ft) long leaves that are surrounded by a thick stem; Along the margins of the leaves, there are sharp spines. The axis grows longer and thicker during the first year of growth, producing numerous close-spiralized leaves.

The stem becomes a spike-like inflorescence with over 100 spirally arranged trimerous flowers, each supported by a bract, after 12 to 20 months.
The ovaries produce berries, which combine to form a large, compact, and numerous fruit. A pineapple’s fruit is typically arranged in two interlocking helices, each with a Fibonacci number between 8 and 13 in one direction.