Pandanus helicopus (PROSEA)
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Introduction |
Pandanus helicopus Kurz
- Family: Pandanaceae
Synonyms
Pandanus johorensis Martelli, P. radula Warb.
Vernacular names
- Indonesia: rasau, rasau tikus (Malay, Sumatra), selingsing (Kubu, Sumatra)
- Malaysia: pandan rasau
- Thailand: kiang luang (Chiang Mai), toei (central).
Distribution
Pensinsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Bangka and Borneo; perhaps Thailand.
Uses
Where better pandans are not available, the leaves are made into coarse mats and sacks. It is not much in demand for this purpose, however, because the leaves are small, brittle and not durable. Male inflorescences have a strong and pleasant scent and flowers are placed between clothes and in the hair. The fruits have been used in Sumatra as a bait in fish traps.
Observations
A dioecious tree, 5-7 m × 7.5 cm, with strongly and irregularly branched stem, branches 2 cm in diameter. Leaves up to 180 cm × 7.5 cm, base orange and erect, upper part deflexed, margins and underside of midrib with black prickles. Male inflorescence pendent, a long raceme of spikes, with white bracts 10-12 cm long; spikes cylindrical, about 22 cm × 1.5 cm, closely packed with staminate phalanges. Female inflorescence solitary, cylindrical, 5 cm long on 20 cm long peduncle. Fruit a syncarpous polydrupe, cylindrical, 12.5 cm × 7.5 cm, golden-brown; drupes narrow, 2-3 mm in diameter; stigma slender. P. helicopus is found in marshland, pools or along rivers, where it forms large, impenetrable complexes, which may obstruct rivers. The carpellate phalanges of P. helicopus can be dispersed by turtles. According to B.C. Stone, P. helicopus is classified in subgenus Rykia , section Solmsia .
Selected sources
20, 32, 71, 160, 176.
Authors
M. Brink, P.C.M. Jansen & C.H. Bosch
