Pandanus odorifer

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Photographs by: Dr. Maulik Gadani

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  • Botanical Name : Pandanus odorifer (Forssk.) Kunzte
  • Synonyms : Pandanus odoratissimus L. f.
  • Common Name : Kewda, Fragrant Screw Pine, Umbrella Tree, Screw Pine
  • Plant Family : Pandanaceae
  • Plant Form : Shrub
  • Occurrence (Sectors) : 1, 20, 22, 28, 30
  • 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.