Pandanus is a genus of monocots with about 578 accepted species.[1] They are palm-like, dioecious trees and shrubs native to the Old World tropics and subtropics. Common names include pandan, screw palm and screw pine. They are classified in the order Pandanales, family Pandanaceae.[2][3]
The species vary in size from small shrubs less than 1 metre (3+1⁄2 feet) tall, to medium-sized trees 20m (66ft) tall, typically with a broad canopy, heavy fruit, and moderate growth rate.[5][self-published source?] The trunk is stout, wide-branching, and ringed with many leaf scars.[6] Mature plants can have branches.[6] Depending on the species, the trunk can be smooth, rough, or warty.[7] The roots form a pyramidal tract to hold the trunk.[8] They commonly have many thick stilt roots near the base, which provide support as the tree grows top-heavy with leaves, fruit, and branches.[9] These roots are adventitious and often branched. The top of the plant has one or more crowns of strap-shaped leaves that may be spiny,[2][3] varying between species from 30 centimetres (12 inches) to 2m (6+1⁄2ft) or longer, and from 1.5cm (5⁄8in) up to 10cm (4in) broad.
They are dioecious, with male and female flowers produced on different plants. The flowers of the male tree are 2–3cm (3⁄4–1+1⁄4in) long and fragrant, surrounded by narrow, white bracts. The female tree produces flowers with round fruits that are also bract-surrounded. The individual fruit is a drupe, and these merge to varying degrees forming multiple fruit, a globule structure, 10–20cm (4–8in) in diameter and have many prism-like sections, resembling the fruit of the pineapple. Typically, the fruit changes from green to bright orange or red as it matures. The fruits can stay on the tree for more than 12 months.
The oldest fossil of the genus is Pandanus estellae which is known from a silicified fruit found in Queensland, Australia, dating to the Oligocene epoch around 32–28 million years ago.[13]
These plants grow from sea level to an altitude of 3,300m (10,800ft). Pandanus trees are of cultural, health, and economic importance in the Pacific, second only to the coconut on atolls.[15][16] They grow wild mainly in semi-natural vegetation in littoral habitats throughout the tropical and subtropical Pacific, where they can withstand drought, strong winds, and salt spray. They propagate readily from seed, but popular cultivars are also widely propagated from branch cuttings by local people.[2]
Species growing on exposed coastal headlands and along beaches have thick 'stilt roots' as anchors in the loose sand.[2][17] Those stilt roots emerge from the stem, usually close to but above the ground, which helps to keep the plants upright and secure them to the ground.[9]
While pandanus are distributed throughout the tropical and subtropical islands and coastlines of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans,[18][19][20] they are most numerous on the low islands and barren atolls of Polynesia and Micronesia.[21][22][23][24] Other species are adapted to mountain habitats and riverine forests.[25]
The tree is grown and propagated from shoots that form spontaneously in the axils of lower leaves. Pandanus fruits are eaten by animals including bats, rats, crabs, and elephants, but the vast majority of species are dispersed primarily by water.[8] Its fruit can float and spread to other islands without help from humans.[19]
Uses
Pandanus has multiple uses, which is dependent in part on each type and location. Some pandanus are a source of food, while others provide raw material for clothing, basket weaving and shelter.
Pandanus leaves are used for handicrafts. Artisans collect the leaves from plants in the wild, cutting only mature leaves so that the plant will naturally regenerate. The leaves are sliced into fine strips and sorted for further processing. Weavers produce basic pandan mats of standard size or roll the leaves into pandan ropes for other designs. This is followed by a coloring process, in which pandan mats are placed in drums with water-based colors. After drying, the colored mats are shaped into final products, such as placemats or jewelry boxes. Final color touch-ups may be applied. The species in Hawaiʻi are called hala, and only the dry leaves (lauhala) are collected and used for Lauhala weaving.
Pandanus leaves from Pandanus amaryllifolius are used widely in Southeast Asian and South Asian cuisines to add a distinct aroma to various dishes and to complement flavors like chocolate. Because of their similarity in usage, pandan leaves are sometimes referred to as the "vanilla of Asia."[26][27][28] Fresh leaves are typically torn into strips, tied in a knot to facilitate removal, placed in the cooking liquid, then removed at the end of cooking. Dried leaves and bottled extract may be bought in some places. Finely sliced pandan leaves are used as fragrant confetti for Malay weddings, graves etc.
Pandan leaves are known as Daun pandan in Indonesian and Malaysian Malay; Dahon ng pandan (lit. "pandan leaf") or simply pandan in Filipino; 斑蘭 (bān lán) in Mandarin; as ใบเตย (bai toei; pronounced[bāj.tɤ̄ːj]) in Thai, lá dứa in Vietnamese; pulao data in Bengali; and rampe in Sinhalese and Hindi.
In Sri Lanka, pandan leaves are used heavily in both vegetable and meat dishes and are often grown in homes. It is common practice to add a few pieces of pandan leaf when cooking red or white rice as well.
In Southeast Asia, pandan leaves are mainly used in sweets such as coconut jam and pandan cake. In Indonesia and Malaysia, pandan is also added to rice and curry dishes such as nasi lemak. In the Philippines, pandan leaves are commonly paired with coconut meat (a combination referred to as buko pandan) in various desserts and drinks like maja blanca and gulaman.[30]
In Indian cooking, the leaf is added whole to biryani, a kind of rice pilaf, made with ordinary rice (as opposed to that made with the premium-grade basmati rice). The basis for this use is that both basmati and pandan leaf contains the same aromatic flavoring ingredient, 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline. In Sri Lanka, pandan leaves are a major ingredient used in the country's cuisine.[31]
Kewra (also spelled Kevda or Kevada) is an extract distilled from the pandan flower, used to flavor drinks and desserts in Indian cuisine. Also, kewra or kevada is used in religious worship, and the leaves are used to make hair ornaments worn for their fragrance as well as decorative purpose in western India.[21]
Species with large and medium fruit are edible, notably the many cultivated forms of P.tectorius (P.pulposus) and P.utilis. The ripe fruit can be eaten raw or cooked,[32] while partly ripe fruit should be cooked first.[33] Small-fruited pandanus may be bitter and astringent.[32]
Karuka nuts (P. julianettii) are an important staple food in New Guinea.[34] Over 45 cultivated varieties are known.[35] Entire households will move,[36] and in some areas will speak a pandanus language at harvest time.[37][38] The taste is like coconut[34][35][39] or walnuts.[40]
Throughout Oceania, almost every part of the plant is used, with various species different from those used in Southeast Asian cooking. Pandanus trees provide materials for housing; clothing and textiles including the manufacture of dilly bags (carrying bags), fine mats or ʻie toga; sails,[41] food, medication,[citation needed] decorations, fishing, and religious uses. In the Vanuatu Archipelago, natives make woven fish traps from the hard interior root of the pandanus, made like a cage having a narrow entrance.[42]
Pandanus tectorius is a species of Pandanus (screwpine) that is native to Malesia, Papuasia, eastern Australia, and the Pacific Islands. It grows in the coastal lowlands typically near the edge of the ocean. Common names in English include thatch screwpine, Tahitian screwpine, hala tree and pandanus. The fruit is edible and sometimes known as hala fruit.
Pandanaceae is a family of flowering plants native to the tropics and subtropics of the Old World, from West Africa to 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 amaryllifolius is a tropical plant in the Pandanus (screwpine) genus, which is commonly known as pandan. It has fragrant leaves which are used widely for flavouring in the cuisines of Southeast Asia. It is also featured in some South Asian cuisines and in Hainanese cuisine from China.
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.
Pandanus palustris is a species of plant in the family Pandanaceae, endemic to Mauritius. It was once common in marshes and in the wetter highlands of Mauritius, but is now threatened by habitat loss.
Pandanus pyramidalis is a species of plant in the family Pandanaceae, endemic to Mauritius.
Martellidendron is a genus of flowering plants in the family Pandanaceae, native to the Seychelles and Madagascar. They resemble palms, but are not closely related to palms. The genus Martellidendron, was previously recognized as a section of the genus Pandanus in 1951 by Rodolfo Emilio Giuseppe Pichi-Sermolli, Then as a subgenus in 1974. It was finally separated out in 2003 on the basis of phylogenetic studies that used chloroplast DNA sequence data.
Pandanus furcatus Roxb., also known as korr, pandan or Himalayan/Nepal screw pine, is native to the Sikkim Himalaya of Northeast India, Bhutan and Nepal, Malaysia, Indonesia and West Africa, and occurs on moist and shady slopes of ravines between 300 and 1500 m. As might be expected it is cold-resistant and able to tolerate occasional light frost, slowly growing to a tall branched tree - about 17 m at maturity - and perched on stilt-like aerial roots. The crown is made up of 5 m long, pale-green leaves, with finely toothed margins, while its fruits are sweet-tasting and edible. The leathery flower spathes are golden-yellow, the lowermost are largest and about 1m in length. These give rise to cone-like fruits, 15–25 cm long, that are bright orange to red when mature and consist of 5-6 angled drupes.
Benstonea is a genus of flowering plants in the family Pandanaceae, native to the Paleotropics.
Pandanus vandermeeschii is a species of plant in the family Pandanaceae. It is endemic to the coastal areas of Mauritius.
Pandanus iceryi ("Vacoas") is a species of plant in the family Pandanaceae. It is endemic to Mauritius.
Pandanus conglomeratus is a species of plant in the family Pandanaceae, endemic to Mauritius, but possibly extinct.
Pandanus drupaceus is a species of plant in the family Pandanaceae, endemic to Mauritius.
Pandanus rigidifolius is a species of plant in the family Pandanaceae, endemic to Mauritius.
Pandanus prostratus is a species of plant in the family Pandanaceae, endemic to Mauritius.
Pandanus eydouxia is a species of plant in the family Pandanaceae, endemic to Mauritius.
Pandanus barkleyi is a species of plant in the family Pandanaceae, endemic to Mauritius.
The karuka is a species of tree in the screwpine family (Pandanaceae) and an important regional food crop in New Guinea. The nuts are more nutritious than coconuts, and are so popular that villagers in the highlands will move their entire households closer to trees for the harvest season.
Pandanus whitmeeanus, commonly known as the Samoan pandanus, is a species of Pandanus (screwpine) believed to be native to Vanuatu. It has been introduced to Samoa, Tonga, the Cook Islands, and the Hoorn Islands by Austronesian voyagers. It is also known in Samoan and Tongan as ‘ara ‘āmoa or paogo.
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.
↑ Wagner, Warren L.; Herbst, Derral R.; Sohmer, S. H. (1990). Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawaiʻi. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN0-8248-1152-6.
↑ Ramón de Mesonero Romanos; Gervasio Gironella; Vicente Castelló; Angel Fernández de los Ríos; Francisco Navarro Villoslada; Manuel de Assas y de Ereńo; José Muńos Maldonado; Eduardo Gasset y Artime (1852). Semanario pintoresco espańol. Retrieved 2012-09-24.
↑ McCoy, Michael (1973). "A Renaissance in Carolinian-Marianas Voyaging". Journal of the Polynesian Society. As of 1973, all canoes on Satawal were using dacron sails sewn by the men themselves. Most Carolinian canoes had used canvas acquired during the Japanese presence in the islands. The people of Satawal, however, were reluctant to switch from the cumbersome pandanus-mat sails, probably because canoes and voyaging were included in the elaborate pre-Christian taboo system. Christianity took hold on Satawal during the decades after World War II, and the Islanders then used canvas. When I and Gary Mount, as Peace Corps volunteers, demonstrated the obvious superiority of dacron over the canvas with only a 4-inch square sample, the men agreed to purchase sails for the canoes of the island. As word of the superiority of dacron spread, the people of Ifalik, Elato, Woleai, Pulusuk, Pulap, and Puluwat have equipped at least one canoe on each island with dacron.
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Crab claw sail woven from pandan leaves on a tepukei , an ocean-going outrigger canoe from Temotu, Solomon Islands
A bayong, a traditional Philippine basket woven from karagumoy (P. simplex) leaves in the hexagonal kinab-anan pattern
Pandan cake flavoured with pandan leaf extract
