The karuka (Pandanus julianettii, also called karuka nut and Pandanus nut) is a species of tree in the screwpine family (Pandanaceae) and an important regional food crop in New Guinea.[4] The nuts are more nutritious than coconuts,[2] and are so popular that villagers in the highlands will move their entire households closer to trees for the harvest season.[5][6]
Karuka is a loanword from Tok Pisin.[7][8] Sometimes the tree is called 'karuga'[9][10][11] or 'karuka nut pandanus'.[12] The term 'karuka' can apply to both Pandanus julianettii and P. brosimos, though the latter is usually called 'wild karuka'.[5] Both species, as well as P. dubius, can be called 'pandanus nut'.[5] In addition to P. brosimos, 'wild karuka' can also refer to P. antaresensis,[12]P. iwen, and P. limbatus, but nuts from these trees are a much smaller part of the local diet.[5] In contexts where multiple karuka species are discussed, P. julianettii is sometimes termed 'planted karuka'.[12]P. julianettii, P. iwen, and P. brosimos are also in the subsection named Karuka, which is in the monotypicsection also named Karuka.[13]
The plant also has many names on the other half of the island. In Indonesian it is called pandan kelapa (lit.coconut pandan) and kelapa hutan (forest coconut),[20] but the latter can also refer to P. brosimos and P. iwen.[21] The Dani people call it tuke.[20][21] The Lani people call it woromo,[20] but this might be a separate species in the complex.
Description
The species was originally described by Ugolino Martelli from only a few drupes in the collections of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew[1] He was hesitant to describe it as a new species from only that, but the characteristics were so salient he published his description.[1]
The tree is dioecious (individual plants either have male flowers or female ones),[4] with male trees uncommon compared to females.[3] It reaches 10–30 metres (33–98ft) in height, with a grey trunk[2] of 30 centimetres (12 inches) in diameter and supported by prop roots or flying buttress roots up to forty feet (twelve meters) in length and six inches (15 cm) or more in diameter..[4] The trunk has white mottling and is generally smooth with occasional warts or small knobs as well as rings of leaf scars.[10] Inside the trunk is pithy and lacking cambium.[10] The top of the tree sometimes branches, producing three or four crowns of leaves.[3] Each crown will produce a single cluster of nuts, typically once every other season.[3] Production is affected by the seasonality of local rainfall.[5]
Leaves spiral up the trunk in opposite pairs.[3][4] The large leathery leaves are 3–4 metres (9.8–13.1ft) long[3] and 8–12 centimetres (3.1–4.7in) wide.[4] The apex of the leaf is attenuate and doubly-pleated, with prickles pointing up at the tip[4] and along the margins and midrib.[2] The leaves are dark green on top and dull cyan underneath.[10]
The inflorescence on male trees is a densely-branched spadix with a dozen long spikes, each containing many staminate phalanges.[4] In each phalange is a column 3mm long topped by up to 9 subsessileanthers.[4] The male flowers are white,[3] and the whole male flowering organ may be up to 2 metres (6ft 7in) long.[10]
The pollen has a psilateexine (unornamented outer wall) 0.8μm thick.[22] The ornamentation is granular between echinae (short spines).[22] The ulcerateaperture is 3μm in diameter.[22] Pollen grains measure an average of 30×14.5μm in size.[22]
On female trees, the inflorescence is a single ellipsoid or ovoid syncarp, or fruiting head, with off-white bracts.[4] Female flowers can produce fruit without pollination,[2] and are typically the only trees cultivated.[10] The tree stops making leaves when new fruit is growing.[3] The syncarp has up to a thousand densely-packed single-celled carpels that later turn into drupes.[4][3]
The clavate, pentagonal drupes measure up to 12cm long and have a sharpened base,[1] but typically are 9×1.5cm,[4] and are a pale blue-green color.[10] Each cluster contains about 1000 nuts.[3] The endocarp is bony and thin,[4] 5½cm long, with rounded edges about 1½cm wide.[1] The seed-bearing locule is around 4cm long.[1] The core of the mature head (mesocarp) has an appearance like honeycomb and is spongy[4] and pink.[3] The top of the mesocarp is fibrous, from 3cm long and up.[1] Though Martelli did not have a complete syncarp, he knew the cluster of fruit must be large, estimating at least 30cm in diameter.[1] He was correct, as the fruiting cluster is typically 15 to 30cm in diameter.[3] A mature head and stalk weigh up to 16kg,[4] but average 6kg.[3] but weights up to sixty pounds ((27,3 kilograms) have been reported.[23]
It most closely resembles P. utilissimus, which is found the Philippines.[1] People also harvest and eat nuts of P. antaresensis, P. brosimos, P. dubius, P. iwen, and P. limbatus, and P. odoratissima[5]
Cultivars
There are up to 45 cultivars of karuka,[10] many with different kernel shapes.[3] There are likely many more, as some are known only to a small number of people in a single settlement.[10] 'Tabuna' and 'Henga' are some of the most important.[2] 'Tabuna' is popular because it is high-yielding, tastes good, and has no taboos on who/what can eat it and how/if it is cooked.[2] At least two varieties are edible raw.[3]
Longhorn grasshoppers (Tettigoniidae) are serious insect pests.[3]Segestes gracilis and Segestidea montana eat the leaves and can sometimes kill trees.[3] Growers will stuff leaves and grass in between the leaves of the crown to keep insects out.[3] An unknown species of black grub will burrow into the cluster and eat the spongy core, causing the nuts to turn black and the whole bunch to fall off the tree.[3]Woodboring beetles sometimes attack the prop root of the tree.[3]
Harvested nuts are often beset by rats and cockroaches.[3] Hanging nuts in the smoky areas above fires can prevent this, but after a while the taste of the nuts is affected.[3]
Use by humans
On New Guinea karuka is cultivated crop,[4] and has been used as a major food source since nearly 31,000 years ago in the Pleistocene.[8] In PNG nearly 2 million people (almost half the rural population) live in regions where karuka is commonly eaten.[12] There is high demand for it in the New Guinea Highlands: Entire households (including pigs, who are sometimes fed the fruits[2]) will move from the valleys to higher elevations at harvest time,[5] often for several weeks.[6] Each household will average 12 to 176 trees.[6]
Trade in karuka is small-scale and not commercial.[5] Local marketplaces typically will have 12 to 50 fruits for sale.[6] With some coordination between state agencies and private sector, karuka could have export market access.[12] The crop has a medium potential for large-scale sustainable commercialization in the region, but care must be taken in the sensitive local environments to expanded agriculture.[5] Diets of tree owners could also be negatively influenced by rapid commercialization.[5]
The endosperm, a white kernel, is eaten raw, roasted, smoked,[4] or mumued.[3] Nuts that aren't immediately eaten are typically sun-dried for storage.[3] The karuka kernels have a sweet, coconut taste,[4][10][20] or savory and like walnuts.[21] Smoked or cooked karuka is either stored in the rafters or sold at local marketplaces.[4] The uncooked clusters can also be stored for months buried in waterlogged earth,[4][3][2] which possibly ferments it.[10] It is a regional staple food and one of the few plants in the area with a high protein content.[4] The spongy core of the multiple fruit cluster can also be cooked and eaten after the nuts are removed.[4][3]
Some subjective reports indicate that children are healthier after karuka season, but there may also be increased incidence of tropical ulcers and pig-bel (caused by Clostridium perfringens).[2] But the connections, if any, are unclear.
Trunks and buttress roots are used for building.[4] The sheets of bark are used for house walls.[10] The leaves are used for bushshelters[4] and raincapes.[10] The leaves were the preferred building material for housing in Papua New Guinea before colonial contact.[24] The durable white spathe leaves on male inflorescences are used by the Wola people to wrap pearl shells.[10]
Karuka can be cultivated by cutting a mature branch and replanting it (vegetative propagation).[3]Suckers can also be replanted.[3]Nurseries also plant seeds directly.[3] New nuts will grow when a tree is at least five or six years old, and can keep producing for up to fifty years.[3][2] The tree can tolerate temperatures down to 3°C for extended periods and 0°C for short periods.[15] The USDA hardiness is 10–12, and is hardy to zone 10 in the UK system.[25]
In Upper Karint near Pingirip, karukas are planted as boundary lines between garden plots.[3]
Pandanales, the pandans or screw-pines, is an order of flowering plants placed in the monocot clade in the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group and Angiosperm Phylogeny Web systems. Within the monocots Pandanales are grouped in the lilioid monocots where they are in a sister group relationship with the Dioscoreales. Historically the order has consisted of a number of different families in different systems but modern classification of the order is based primarily on molecular phylogenetics despite diverse morphology which previously placed many of the families in other groupings based on apparent similarity. Members of the order have a subtropical distribution and includes trees, shrubs, and vines as well as herbaceous plants. The order consists of 5 families, 36 genera and about 1,610 species.
Pandanus is a genus of monocots with some 578 accepted species. They are palm-like, dioecious trees and shrubs native to the Old World tropics and subtropics. The greatest number of species are found in Madagascar and Malaysia. Common names include pandan, screw palm and screw pine. They are classified in the order Pandanales, family Pandanaceae.
Pandanaceae is a family of flowering plants native to the tropics and subtropics of the Old World, from West Africa through the Pacific. It contains 982 known species in five genera, of which the type genus, Pandanus, is the most important, with species like Pandanus amaryllifolius and karuka being important sources of food. The family likely originated during the Late Cretaceous.
Pandanus conoideus is a plant in the Pandanus family from New Guinea. Its fruit is eaten in Papua New Guinea and Papua, Indonesia. The fruit has several names: marita, or buah merah. The fruit is typically prepared by splitting it, wrapping it in leaves, and cooking it in an earth oven. making it a traditional delicacy.
Pandanus utilis, the common screwpine is, despite its name, a monocot and not a pine. It is native to Madagascar and naturalised in Mauritius and the Seychelles.
The squirrel-toothed rat, also known as the New Guinea giant rat, powerful-toothed rat, uneven-toothed rat, or narrow-toothed giant rat, is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is the only species in the genus Anisomys and is found in New Guinea.
The eastern white-eared giant rat is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found only in Papua New Guinea.
Rothschild's woolly rat is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found on the island of New Guinea: both in the West Papua region of Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.
The giant naked-tailed rat is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found in West Papua, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. It lives in tropical forests, wetlands, and in degraded forests.
Kalam is a Kalam language of Papua New Guinea. It is closely related to Kobon, and shares many of the features of that language. Kalam is spoken in Middle Ramu District of Madang Province and in Mount Hagen District of Western Highlands Province.
Kewa is an Engan language complex of the Southern Highlands province of Papua New Guinea. A dictionary of the western dialect of Kewa has been compiled by Franklin & Franklin (1978).
A pandanus language is an elaborate avoidance language among several of the peoples of the eastern New Guinea Highlands, used when collecting Pandanus nuts.
Pandanus odorifer is an aromatic monocot species of plant in the family Pandanaceae, native to Polynesia, Australia, South Asia, and the Philippines, and is also found wild in southern India and Burma. It is commonly known as fragrant screw-pine.
Pandanus barkleyi is a species of plant in the family Pandanaceae, endemic to Mauritius.
Pandanus brosimos, the wild karuka, is a species of tree in the family Pandanaceae, endemic to New Guinea. Along with Pandanus julianettii, it is widely harvested in New Guinea as a traditional food source. Many local ethnic groups make use of pandanus languages when harvesting the nuts.
Pandanus connatus is a species of plant in the family Pandanaceae native to northern Madagascar.
Pandanus spicatus a species of plant in the family Pandanaceae. It is native to Madagascar.
Pandanus pluriloculatus is a dioecious tree in the family Pandanaceae which is endemic to Madagascar. The specific epithet, pluriloculatus, is a reference to the numerous locules in a compound ovary.
Pandanus grayorum is a plant in the family Pandanaceae which is endemic to a very small area of northeast Queensland. It is closely related to both Pandanus gemmifer and Pandanus solms-laubachii, and it coexists with the latter.
Pandanus solms-laubachii, commonly known as the swamp pandan, is a small tree in the family Pandanaceae which occurs in northeastern Queensland and possibly in Papua New Guinea. It is closely related to both Pandanus gemmifer and Pandanus grayorum.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Rose, C. J. (1982). Bourke, Richard Michael; Kesavan, V. (eds.). "Preliminary Observations on the Pandanus nut (Pandanus jiulianettii Martelli)". Proceedings of the Second Papua New Guinea Food Crops Conference. 1: 160–167. OCLC17294235.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Bourke, Richard Michael (1994). "Edible indigenous nuts in Papua New Guinea"(PDF). In Stevens, M.L.; Bourke, Richard Michael; Evans, Barry R. (eds.). South Pacific Indigenous Nuts. Proceedings of a workshop held from 31 October to 4 November 1994 at Le Lagon Resort, Port Vila, Vanuatu. Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research Proceedings. Vol.69. Canberra: Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research. pp.45–55. ISBN1-86320-485-7. OCLC38390455. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
1 2 "Pandanus julianettii". Ecocrop. Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN. 1993–2007. Archived from the original on 6 December 2018. Retrieved 26 October 2018.
1 2 Majnep, Ian Saem; Bulmer, Ralph (1977). Birds of my Kalam Country[Mn̄mon Yad Kalam Yakt]. illustrations by Christopher Healey. New Zealand: Auckland University Press. pp.53, 150, 152. ISBN9780196479538. OCLC251862814.
↑ Pawley, Andrew (1992). "Kalam Pandanus Language: An Old New Guinea Experiment in Language Engineering". In Dutton, Tom E.; Ross, Malcolm; Tryon, Darrell (eds.). The Language Game: Papers in Memory of Donald C. Laycock. Pacific Linguistics Series C. Vol.110. Memory of Donald C. Laycock. Canberra: Department of Linguistics, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University. pp.313–334. ISBN0-85883-400-6. ISSN0078-7558. OCLC222981840.
1 2 Pawley, Andrew; Bulmer, Ralph; Kias, John; Gi, Simon Peter; Majnep, Ian Saem (2011). A Dictionary of Kalam with Ethnographic Notes. Pacific Linguistics. Vol.630. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. OCLC798464842.
1 2 3 4 5 Haberle, Simon G. (November 1995). "Identification of cultivated Pandanus and Colocasia in pollen records and the implications for the study of early agriculture in New Guinea". Vegetation History and Archaeobotany. 4 (4): 195–210. doi:10.1007/BF00235751. ISSN1617-6278. OCLC192800152. S2CID85369387.
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