John Parkinson was apothecary to James I and was given the title ‘Botanicus Regius Primarius’ by Charles I. Parkinson had a garden in Long Acre, Covent Garden, where he grew plant introductions which had been sought out for him by paid plant-gatherers. His Theatrum Botanicum includes 28 species previously unrecorded in Britain. The pineapple, described here as: ‘Scaly like an Artichoke at the first view, but more like to a cone of the Pine tree, which we call a pineapple to the forme’ had not yet been introduced to Britain at the time of writing.