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Pandanus is a genus of with about 578 accepted species. They are palm-like, dioecious trees and shrubs native to the Old World tropics and subtropics. Common names include pandan, screw palm and screw pine. The genus is classified in the order Pandanales, family Pandanaceae, and is the largest in the family.
They are dioecious, with male and female flowers produced on different plants. The flowers of the male tree are long and fragrant, surrounded by narrow, white bracts. The female tree produces flowers with round fruits that are also bract-surrounded. The individual fruit is a drupe, and these merge to varying degrees forming multiple fruit, a globule structure, in diameter and have many prism-like sections, resembling the fruit of the pineapple. Typically, the fruit changes from green to bright orange or red as it matures. The fruits can stay on the tree for more than 12 months.
Species growing on exposed coastal headlands and along beaches have thick 'stilt roots' as anchors in the loose sand. Those stilt roots emerge from the stem, usually close to but above the ground, which helps to keep the plants upright and secure them to the ground.
While Pandanus are distributed throughout the tropical and subtropical islands and coastlines of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans, they are most numerous on the low islands and barren atolls of Polynesia and Micronesia. Other species are adapted to mountain habitats and riverine forests.
The tree is grown and propagated from shoots that form spontaneously in the axils of lower leaves. Pandanus fruits are eaten by animals including bats, rats, crabs, and elephants, but the vast majority of species are dispersed primarily by water. Its fruit can float and spread to other islands without help from humans.
Climate and soil analyses based on a molecular phylogenetic framework have shown that the largest split in Pandanus (between Clades I and II) is also associated with a difference in climate and soil conditions between the two groups. Clade II Pandanus species are associated with more Season temperature and precipitation regimes, and more well-draining soils, than Clade I Pandanus species. In addition, this split is also associated with the occurrence of specialized layer of water storage Plant tissue (also known as hydrenchyma) in Clade II species of Pandanus that is thought to aid in their adaptation to more Water scarcity environments.
Pandanus leaves are used for handicrafts. Artisans collect the leaves from plants in the wild, cutting only mature leaves so that the plant will naturally regenerate. The leaves are sliced into fine strips and sorted for further processing. Weavers produce basic pandan mats of standard size or roll the leaves into pandan ropes for other designs. This is followed by a coloring process, in which pandan mats are placed in drums with water-based colors. After drying, the colored mats are shaped into final products, such as placemats or jewelry boxes. Final color touch-ups may be applied. The species in Hawaiʻi are called hala, and only the dry leaves (lauhala) are collected and used for Lauhala weaving. Traditions of weaving pandanus to source fabric material were widespread among Polynesians even as they migrated reaching colder latitudes (like the islands of New Zealand) where no pandanus grew, which later Māori generations simply adapted their skills with native plants like Phormium having superficially similar properties, even reflected in their names (e.g. the aforementioned Phormium tenax, and wharariki).
Pandanus leaves from Pandanus amaryllifolius are used widely in Southeast Asian and South Asian cuisines to add a distinct aroma to various dishes and to complement flavors like chocolate. Because of their similarity in usage, pandan leaves are sometimes referred to as the "vanilla of Asia." Fresh leaves are typically torn into strips, tied in a knot to facilitate removal, placed in the cooking liquid, then removed at the end of cooking. Dried leaves and bottled extract may be bought in some places. Finely sliced pandan leaves are used as fragrant confetti for Malay weddings, graves etc.
Pandan leaves are known as Daun pandan in Indonesian and Malaysian Malay; Dahon ng pandan () or simply pandan in Filipino; 斑蘭 ( bān lán) in Mandarin; as ใบเตย ( bai toei; ) in Thai, lá dứa in Vietnamese; pulao data in Bengali; and rampe in Sinhalese and Hindi.
In India, particularly in Nicobar Islands, pandanus fruit is staple food of Shompen people and Nicobarese people.
In Sri Lanka, pandan leaves are used heavily in both vegetable and meat dishes and are often grown in homes. It is common practice to add a few pieces of pandan leaf when cooking red or white rice as well.
In Southeast Asia, pandan leaves are mainly used in sweets such as coconut jam and pandan cake. In Indonesia and Malaysia, pandan is also added to rice and curry dishes such as nasi lemak. In the Philippines, pandan leaves are commonly paired with coconut meat (a combination referred to as buko pandan) in various desserts and drinks like maja blanca and gulaman.
In Indian cooking, the leaf is added whole to biryani, a kind of rice pilaf, made with ordinary rice (as opposed to that made with the premium-grade basmati rice). The basis for this use is that both basmati and pandan leaf contains the same aromatic flavoring ingredient, 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline. In Sri Lanka, pandan leaves are a major ingredient used in the country's cuisine.
Kewra (also spelled Kevda or Kevada) is an extract distilled from the pandan flower, used to flavor drinks and desserts in Indian cuisine. Also, kewra or kevada is used in religious worship, and the leaves are used to make hair ornaments worn for their fragrance as well as decorative purpose in western India.
Species with large and medium fruit are edible, notably the many cultivated forms of P. tectorius ( P. pulposus) and Pandanus utilis. The ripe fruit can be eaten raw or cooked, while partly ripe fruit should be cooked first. Small-fruited pandanus may be bitter and astringent.
Karuka nuts ( P. julianettii) are an important staple food in New Guinea.
Throughout Oceania, almost every part of the plant is used, with various species different from those used in Southeast Asian cooking. Pandanus trees provide materials for housing; clothing and textiles including the manufacture of Dillybag (carrying bags), fine mats or ie toga; sails, food, medication, decorations, fishing, and religious uses. In the Vanuatu Archipelago, natives make woven fish traps from the hard interior root of the pandanus, made like a cage having a narrow entrance.SLICE documentary, , The Isle of Futuna / April 2022, minutes 18:39–ff.
(2025). 9789400740532, Springer. ISBN 9789400740532 Over 45 cultivated varieties are known. (1983). 9780719008740, Manchester university Press. ISBN 9780719008740 Entire households will move, and in some areas will speak a pandanus language at harvest time. (1992). 9780858834118, Department of Linguistics Research School of Pacific Studies THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. ISBN 9780858834118 The taste is like coconut or walnuts.
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