Pandanus amaryllifolius (PROSEA)
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Introduction |
Pandanus amaryllifolius Roxb.
- Protologue: Fl. ind. 3: 743 (1832).
- Family: Pandanaceae
- Chromosome number: 2n = 60, 70
Synonyms
- Pandanus latifolius Hassk. (1842),
- P. hasskarlii Merrill (1917),
- P. odorus Ridley (1925).
Vernacular names
- Fragrant pandan, fragrant screwpine (En)
- Indonesia: pandan wangi (general), pandan rampe (Sundanese), pondak (Moluccas)
- Malaysia: pandan wangi
- Papua New Guinea: karuka
- Philippines: pandan, pandan mabango
- Cambodia: taëy
- Laos: të:y ho:m, të:y ba:nz
- Thailand: toei-hom, panae-wo-nging
- Vietnam: dứa thơm
Origin and geographic distribution
Fragrant pandan is an ancient cultigen which has never been found wild. It might originate from the Moluccas (Indonesia), from where the only flowering specimen is known. It is widespread in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia (including Irian Jaya), and the Philippines, and is probably cultivated in many other countries, having been brought in by South-East Asian migrants.
Uses
P. amaryllifolius is the only pandan with scented leaves. Throughout South-East Asia, they are used fresh in cooking to impart flavour and colour (chlorophyll) to rice, sweets, jellies and many other food products; the leaves are removed from the food before consumption. Leaves of P. amaryllifolius are widely used to flavour ordinary rice, as a substitute for expensive aromatic rice cultivars. Fried chicken wrapped in pandan leaves is a delicacy. Juice is pressed from the leaves for flavouring and colouring cakes. Freshly chopped leaves are mixed with the petals of various flowers to make potpourris. Leaves can be woven into small baskets. Fragrant pandan has definite potential as an ornamental plant, in the garden as well as for interior decoration.
P. amaryllifolius has a number of local medicinal and ceremonial uses. For instance, after soaking the leaves in coconut oil, the oil is employed as an embrocation for rheumatic troubles. Infusions of the leaves are used internally and externally as a sedative against restlessness. In Thailand it is a traditional medicine to treat diabetes. Powdered pandan leaves may be used against Callosobruchus chinensis infestation of mung-bean seeds.
Production and international trade
No production figures are available for fragrant pandan. It is commonly grown for home consumption, and is regularly offered on local markets.
Properties
It has been speculated that the scent in fragrant pandan leaves is not an essential oil, but a volatile product of oxidative degradation of a yellow carotenoid pigment.
The leaves, however, yield a very small amount of essential oil (several ppm only), consisting for 6-42% of sesquiterpene hydrocarbons, and 6% linalool as the only monoterpene. The oil also contains about 10% of the aromatic compound 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, which is the compound responsible for the pandan-like aroma of the well-known Thai aromatic rice cultivar Khao Dawk Mali 105, and which is absent in non-aromatic rice cultivars. The essential oil has insect-repellent activity, for instance against the ordinary cockroach Periplaneta americana.
Three piperidine alkaloids (pandamarilactone-1, pandamarilactone-32, pandamarilactone-31) have been isolated and identified from the leaves of fragrant pandan. They all have a C-9-N-C-9 skeleton and could be derived biogenetically from 4-hydroxy-4-methylglutamic acid.
The application as antidiabetic drug seems linked to 4-hydroxybenzoic acid, which has been isolated from P. amaryllifolius roots. It shows hypoglycaemic effects in normal rats (oral administration of 5 mg/kg), and increases serum insulin levels and liver glycogen content.
Description
P. amaryllifolius has two distinct growth forms.
- Small growth form:
- Perpetuated sucker shoots. Stem slender, 1-1.6 m tall, 2-5 cm in diameter, decumbent and ascending, emitting aerial roots throughout its length.
- Leaves oblong, 25-75 cm × 2-5 cm, rather pale green, somewhat thin and flaccid, more or less glaucous and keeled beneath, the apex with rather distinct twin lateral pleats, the margins entire, unarmed except a few minute prickles less than 1 mm long near the apex.
- Flowers and fruits unknown.
- Large growth form:
- Eventually producing an erect stem, 2-4.5 m tall, 15 cm in diameter, unbranched or sparsely branched, bearing large aerial prop roots.
- Leaves oblong, 150-220 cm × 7-9 cm, apex acute, rather dark green above, glaucous and keeled beneath, the twin lateral pleats above somewhat prominent, margins entire, unarmed except near leaf apex with small antrorse prickles about 1 mm long and very rarely with 1-3 small stout prickles near the base.
- Female inflorescence unknown.
- Male inflorescence (evidently exceedingly rare), probably pendent, up to 60 cm long, the spathes 90 cm long, white or the lower ones with green foliaceous tips, bearing several oblong spikes to 35 cm long or more, several cm wide; upper ones much shorter, about 9-10 cm long, 2 cm wide, composed of many crowded staminal phalanges; staminal phalange with column 4-9 mm × 1.5-2.5 mm, compressed to flat, containing 3-6 stamens with very short filaments, 0.5-1.5 mm × 0.4-0.6 mm and oblong anthers, 2.5 mm long.
Growth and development
The small growth form of fragrant pandan is perpetuated by continued harvesting of the leaves. When abandoned or allowed to develop without hindrance, it grows very slowly but eventually will enter into the "large” growth phase and develop a stout trunk. The odour of the leaves remains the same in both growth forms. Flowering never occurs in the small form, and is very rare in the large form.
Other botanical information
"Large” fragrant pandan and "small” fragrant pandan were long considered two distinct species, but the two forms are merely growth phases of one and the same species, P. amaryllifolius. However, the rarity of flowering, pistillate flowering in particular, has hindered positioning of the species in the genus, and its relatives and ancestry are much in doubt. Based on the available information, P. amaryllifolius probably belongs to the subgenus Kurzia Stone, Sect. Jeanneretia (Gaudich.) Stone.
In spite of the relatively high number of somatic chromosomes in the whole genus Pandanus Parkinson (x = 30), there is no evidence of a possible polyploid origin.
Ecology
Apart from the continuous harvesting of fragrant pandan, there are some indications that ever-wet climatic conditions are less favourable for the development of the large growth form, and thus assist in the perpetuation of the small growth form. Fragrant pandan tolerates shade very well.
Propagation and planting
Fragrant pandan is propagated by suckers or by stem cuttings. Suckers removed from the leaf axils can be planted straight away or rooted first in a sandy medium. Stem cuttings should be inserted obliquely in the planting medium.
Husbandry
Fragrant pandan is not usually grown in regularly spaced stands. Domestic plantings tend to consist of a few plants mixed with other species. A typical Indo-Malay home garden may have perhaps a dozen small plants of P. amaryllifolius for kitchen use, a few clumps of P. kaida Kurz for fibres, and a single decorative plant of one of the variegated pandans.
Harvesting
Harvesting of fragrant pandan may start about 6 months after planting and may continue for several years. Individual leaves are cut, leaving the top with 3-4 leaves intact.
Yield
Information on yield of fragrant pandan is scanty. A one-ha plot in the Philippines, with fragrant pandan under pepper and some fruit trees, was harvested twice a week, yielding 60 kg of fresh leaves per harvest, or 6 t/ha per year.
Handling after harvest
Fragrant pandan is usually used and marketed fresh. Flavour extraction with ethanol and the use of dextrin 2% as the filler substance has given good results.
Genetic resources and breeding
There are no known substantial germplasm collections or breeding programmes.
Prospects
Fragrant pandan has only been of marginal interest to agricultural institutions; even information on yield levels is lacking. Although it is a minor crop grown for domestic use, ingenuity in developing new uses for pandan flavouring and colouring could enhance its value. Flavour powder and colouring tablets are potential new applications expected to improve quality, durability and ease of handling.
Literature
- Buttery, R.G., Juliano, B.O. & Ling, L.C., 1983. Identification of rice aroma compound 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline in pandan leaves. Chemistry and Industry 12: 478.
- Laksanalamai, V. & Ilangantileke, S., 1993. Comparison of aroma compound 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline in leaves from pandan (Pandanus amaryllifolius) and Thai fragrant rice Khao Dawk Mali 105. Cereal Chemistry 70(4): 381-384.
- Nonato, M.G., Garson, M.J., Truscott, R.J.W. & Carver, J.A., 1993. Structural characterization of piperidine alkaloids from Pandanus amaryllifolius by inverse-detected 2D NMR techniques. Phytochemistry (Oxford) 34(4): 1159-1163.
- Peungvicha, P., Temsiririrkkul, R., Prasain, J.K., Tezuka, Y., Kadota, S., Thirawarapan, S.S. & Watanabe, H., 1998. 4-Hydroxybenzoic acid: a hypoglycemic constituent of aqueous extract of Pandanus odorus root. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 62(1): 79-84.
- Stone, B.C., 1978. Studies in Malesian Pandanaceae, XVII. On the taxonomy of "pandan wangi”, a Pandanus cultivar with scented leaves. Economic Botany 32(3): 285-293.
- Wijaya, C.H. & Sadikin, A.C., 1993. Pembuatan flavor bubuk dari pandan wangi dengan metode mikroenkapsulasi [Production of flavour powder from fragrant pandan with the micro-encapsulation method]. Buletin Penelitian Ilmu dan Teknologi Pangan [Food Science and Technology Research Bulletin] 4(2): 1-6.
Sources of illustrations
Sastrapradja, S. (Editor), 1978. Tanaman industri [Industrial crops]. Sumber Daya Ekonomi, Lembaga Biologi Nasional, LIPI. SDE-51/LBN-10. Bogor, Indonesia. p. 84. Redrawn and adapted by P. Verheij-Hayes.
Authors
F.M. Setyowati & J.S. Siemonsma
