PANDANACE2E. Lind/. An order of plants comprising 2 genera, 16 species, viz. 12 Pandanus, 4 Freycinetia. The Pandanacem or screw-pines abound in the Mauritius, Bourbon, India, the Straits, and Burma. The following species of the Pandanus genus are known in S.E. Asia :— P. amaryllifolius, Roxb., Amboyna.
P. Andamanensium, Kurz, Andamans.
P. candelabrum, Pal., Beauv., N. Guinea. P. caricus, Bumph., Moluccas. • P. drupaceus, Pet. Th., Mauritius. P. edulis, Pet. Th., Madagascar. P. elegans, Pet. Th., Mascarenbas. P. fascicularis, Lam., Moluccas. P. fostidus, Barb., Bengal.
P. furcatus, Roxb., Malabar, Chittagong, Pegu.
P. graminifolius, Kurz, Burma. P. humilis, Bumph., Moluccas. P. leram, Jones, Nicobar.
P. luvis, Bumph., Burma.
P. rnarginatus, Boxb., Mauritius. P. moscatus, Bumph., Amboyna.
P. odoratissimus, L. ft., all S. Asia.
P. utilis, Bory., Madagascar, Mauritius.
The name is derived from the Malay Pandang, and called screw-pine from their leaves, which resemble those of the pine-apple, and are inserted spirally along the stem. Species are found also in Mauritius, Bourbon, and Australia. The leaves are composed of tough, longitudinal fibres, white and glossy, which enable them to be employed for covering huts, making matting, as well as for cordage ; and in the Mauritius, for making sacks for coffee, sugar, and grain. The species which is best known in India is P. odoratissimus, on account of the exquisite perfume of its flowers.
This plant, as well as some of the other species in the Mauritius, are known by the name Vacoa or Baquois, said to be P. sativus. On many of the Burmese boats, sails are made of the large narrow leaves sewed together of a species that has a trunk like a palm, and the fruit is used by the Karcns to hackle their thread. The smaller and finer mats in common use are fabricated from the leaves of this species, which grows in Tenasserim above tide waters.
According to De Candolle, one species of pan danus, when opening in flowers, emits an electric spark, accompanied by a noise.
The fruit of a pandanus is an article of food among the natives of the north coast of Australia, where it is prepared by steeping in an embanked puddle. Dr. Leichhardt found the pandanus fruit in extensive use among the natives of the Gulf of Carpentaria, and was inclined to believe that they obtain a fermented liquor by this process of soak ing. The practice is more probably adopted for the purpose of removing some deleterious sub stance, similar in its nature to the heart of the manioc. The fruit of the cycas palm is sliced up and dried in the sun with the same object.—G. W. Earl, Papuans, p. 171 ; Marius, p. 121 ; Jour. Agric. Soc. of India, 1843, p. 92 ; Boyle, Fib. Pl. p. 35 ; Boyle, Ill. him. Bot. p. 408 ; Roxb. Fl. Ind. iii. p. 741 ; Mason.