Pandanus adinobotrys (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Pandanus adinobotrys Merr. et Perry

Family: Pandanaceae

Synonyms

Pandanus angiensis Kanehira.

Distribution

Wild in New Guinea; also semi-cultivated in Irian Jaya.

Uses

The leaves are used for thatching. Fibre from the leaves is used in male initiation rituals.

Observations

A dioecious, branched shrub or unbranched tree, up to 8 m tall, lacking prop roots. Leaves coriaceous, up to 3.25 m × 7-10 cm, margins serrate-dentate, underside of midrib spiny. Female inflorescence with peduncle 30 cm long, bearing spicately about 9 heads of 17 cm × 10-12 cm; drupes numerous, about 2 cm × 0.5 cm, style spiniform, 7-12 mm long; upper mesocarp concave, endocarp 11-13 mm long. Fruit a syncarpous polydrupe, red at maturity. P. adinobotrys is a plant of high altitudes (1400-2000 m) in mossy forest, occupying the same ecological niche as P. antaresensis St. John, but it is less robust. According to B.C. Stone, P. adinobotrys is classified in subgenus Acrostigma , section Acrostigma .

Selected sources

66, 82, 116, 176, 179.

Authors

M. Brink, P.C.M. Jansen & C.H. Bosch