Pandanus foveolatus

Kanehira

gbif· cc0

President and Fellows of Harvard College

Description

A screwpine or pandanus. It grows 18 m tall. The trunk can be 30 cm across. It has large prop roots. The leaves are 260 cm long by 10.5 cm wide. The fruit are oval. They are 32 cm across. The fruit weighs 13.9 kg

Edible Uses

The nuts are edible.

Distribution

A tropical plant. It occurs in the foothills of the rainforest near Kiunga. It also occurs in the Jimi valley.

Where It Grows

Asia, Indonesia, Pacific, Papua New Guinea, PNG, SE Asia,

Cultivation

Species in this genus generally grow well in most moist, well-dained soils and a sunny position A dioecious species, both male and female forms need to be grown if fruits and seed are required.

Other Uses

Although we have seen no specific records for this species, the leaves of most members of this genus are used locally for weaving a range of items such as mats, bags and baskets. The leaves, which are usually tough and fibrous, are long, narrow and sword-shaped and can easily be split into strips for weaving. Wood. The prop roots are split and lashed tightly together to make house walls. The trunk is split open and cored, then the trunk rind is flattened to make house floors and inner walls.

Notes

There are about 600 Pandanus species. They grow in the tropics.

Also Known As

Kulom

References (4)

Bot. Mag. (Tokyo) 55:300, 1941
Hyndman, D. C., 1984, Ethnobotany of Wopkaimin Pandanus: Significant Papua New Guinea Plant Resource. Economic Botany 38(3) pp. 287-303
Powell, J.M., Ethnobotany. In Paijmans, K., 1976, New Guinea Vegetation. Australian National University Press. p 110
www.pngplants.org