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Pineapple Road is near to where our daughter lives in south Birmingham. "Funny name for an urban road", I thought. I discovered it is named after Pineapple Farm, which existed prior to the city's expansion 100 years ago. Still odd, though; farm names tend to be ancient, pineapples were unknown in Europe until mid-17th century and, although they might have been grown in the Orangery of some aristocratic garden (indeed, there is such a thing as a 'pinery'), I doubt they were cultivated on the southern fringe of Birmingham

The catch is that the word 'pineapple' existed in English long before the fruit came here. 'Apple' was in the past a generic term for the fruit of any tree. A 'pine-apple' was the 'fruit' of a pine tree - a pine cone. When the new fruit arrived from the tropical Americas, its superficial similarity to a pine cone earned it the name pineapple. In the 17th and 18th century, they became a symbol of wealth and presteige. They were already used as a symbol of hospitality in their native habitat, and this symbolism transplanted to the colonial societies that occupied central and south America

Their shape meant they were relatively easy, but distinctive, to depict in stone, so they became incorporated into architectural design. In particular, they were used to top gateposts - where better to symbolise welcome and hospitality. Who knows if Pineapple Farm had a lot of pine trees, or if it got its name because it installed fashionable gate posts that became its defining feature

An exhibition that is mostly paintings of 16th and 17th century country estate gardens, also includes this exhibit in the centre - a series of gate-post decorations, including the hospitable pineapple - as a reminder of the entanglement of all this rural wealth with the colonial project, and the violence and coercion that entailed. Well said