Pandanus odoratissimus (Kewda): A Review on Ethnopharmacology, Phytochemistry, and Nutritional Aspects
Table 2
Plant monograph.
Biogeography and ecology Plant name: Pandanus odoratissimus Linn Kingdom: Plantae-plants Subkingdom: Tracheobionta Family: Pandanaceae Genus: Pandanus L. F. Species: Pandanus odoratissimus [9, 10] Botanical description Flowers Male flowers A large, terminal, pendulous, compound, leafy, raceme, the leaves of which are white, linear-oblong, pointed, and concave; in the axill of each, there is a single thyrsus of simple, small racemes, of long-pointed, depending anthers; they are not sessile, but raised from the rachis of the raceme by tapering filaments. Female flowers A different plant, terminal and solitary, having no other calyx or corol than the termination of the three rows of leaves forming three imbricate fascicles of white floral leaves, like those of the male raceme, which stand at equal distances, round the base of the young fruit. Germs numerous, collected in firm wedge-shape angular bundles from six to ten or more (these form the compound germs of the future drupes), closely impacted round the receptacle. Fruit compound; oval, from five to eight inches in diameter, and from six to ten long, weighing from four to eight pounds; rough, rich orange-colour, composed of drupes numerous, wedge-shape, angular; when ripe, their large or exterior ends are detached from one another and covered with a firm, deeper orange-colored skin; apices flat, consisting of as many angular, somewhat convex, tubercles, as there are cells in the drupe, each crowned with the withered stigma, internally; the exterior half of these drupes (next the apex) consists of dry spongy cavities, their lower part next to the core or common receptacle is yellow, consisting of a rich-looking, yellow pulp, intermixed with strong fibres; here the nut is lodged. Nut Each drupe compound, top-shape, exceedingly hard, angular, containing as many cells as there are divisions on the apex of the drupe; each cell is perforated above and below. Seed Single, oblong, smooth, adhering lengthways to a small fascicle of strong, white fibers, which pass through the perforation of the cell. By far the greatest numbers of these cells are barren. It is a native of the warmer parts of Asia. All soils and situations seem to suit it equally well; it flowers chiefly during the rainy season. It grows readily from branches, whence it is rare to find the full grown ripe fruit. The male is by far the most common, a circumstance merely accidental; for I have seen some old extensive hedges entirely female, owing to their having been originally a female plant or plants nearest to these places. Trunk A plant may be found with a single, pretty v erect one, often feet in height, and a ramous round head; but this is seldom, for it is generally in form of a very large, ramous, spreading bush. From the stems or larger branches issue large carrot-shape, obtuse-pointed, roots, descending till they come to the ground, into which they enter and then divide. The substance of the most solid wood is something like that of a cabbage stem and by age acquires a woody hardness on the outside. Leaves confluent, stem-clasping, closely imbricated in three spiral rows, round the extremities of the branches, bowing; from three to five feet long, tapering to a very long fine triangular point, very smooth and glossy, margins and back armed with very fine sharp spines; those on the margins point forward, those of the back point sometimes one way, sometimes the other style. Stigma Single, oval, grooved lengthwise, yellow, affixed to the outside of a two-lipped umbilicus on the apex of the germ. It is the tender white leaves of the flowers (chiefly those of the male) that yield that most delightful fragrance, for which they are so universally and deservedly esteemed; and of all the perfumes that I know, it is by far the richest and most powerful. The lower yellow pulpy part of the drupe is sometimes eaten by the natives in times of scarcity and famine, and the tender white base of the leaves are also eaten raw or boiled, at such melancholy times. The taste of the pulpy part of the drupe is to me very disagreeable. The fusiform roots, already mentioned, are composed of tough fibers; they are so soft and spongy as to serve the natives for corks; the leaves also are composed of longitudinal, tough, useful fibers.
Root The subterranean root system is concentrated in the surface soil layers. Apart from the aerial and prop roots, the tree’s root system is unlikely to interfere with maintenance or recreational activities, lawns, or structures such as sidewalks or foundations [1].
