Occurrence (Special Areas) :
Indroda Park, Van Chetana Kendra, Infocity
About Pandanus odorifer Plant :
Habit : Shrubby, rarely erect, stem supported by aerial rots.
Leaves : Glaucous green, ensiform, caudate-acuminate, coriaceous, the marginal spines pointing forward, those on the midrib pointing forward or backward.
Flowers :
Male Flowers:
Spadix with numerous subsessile cylindric spikes, enclosed in long white fragrant caudate-acuminate spathes.
Staminal column 0.6-1.2 cm long, anthers longer than the slender filaments, cuspidate, inserted along the whole length of the upper portion.
Female Flowers :
Spadix solitary.
Carpels confluent in obpyramidal groups of 6-10 or fewer, stigmas short, reniform, yellow.
Fruits : An oblong or globosesyncarpium, yellow or red, Drupes numerous (50-60) each consisting of 5-12 carpels, turbinate, angular, the crown smooth, convex, more or less depressed round the reniform stigmas.
Flowering and Fruiting Time : July - September
Significance :
The plant yields a fibre.
The fruits are eaten after cooking.
The fibrous parts of the fruit after removal of the softer parts are made into a sort of crude paint brush.
The male inflorescences are valued for the fragrant smell and for the valuable attar obtained from them.
