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17: Fibre plants

Pandanus helicopus Kurz

PANDANACEAE

Pandanus johorensis Martelli, Pandanus radula Warb.

Indonesia: rasau, rasau tikus (Malay, Sumatra), selingsing (Kubu, Sumatra). Malaysia: pandan rasau. Thailand: kiang luang (Chiang Mai), toei (central).

Pensinsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Bangka and Borneo; perhaps Thailand.

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.

A dioecious tree, 5—7 m x 7.5 cm, with strongly and irregularly branched stem, branches 2 cm in diameter. Leaves up to 180 cm x 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 x 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 x 7.5 cm, golden-brown; drupes narrow, 2—3 mm in diameter; stigma slender. Pandanus helicopus is found in marshland, pools or along rivers, where it forms large, impenetrable complexes, which may obstruct rivers. The carpellate phalanges of Pandanus helicopus can be dispersed by turtles. According to B.C. Stone, Pandanus helicopus is classified in subgenus Rykia, section Solmsia.

[20]Burkill, I.H., 1966. A dictionary of the economic products of the Malay Peninsula. Revised reprint. 2 volumes. Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Vol. 1 (A—H) pp. 1—1240, Vol. 2 (I—Z) pp. 1241—2444.
[32]Cox, P.A., 1990. Pollination and the evolution of breeding systems in Pandanaceae. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 77(4): 816—840.
[71]Heyne, K., 1927. De nuttige planten van Nederlandsch-Indië [The useful plants of the Dutch East Indies]. 2nd Edition. 3 volumes. Departement van Landbouw, Nijverheid en Handel in Nederlandsch Indië. 1953 pp. (3rd Edition, 1950. W. van Hoeve, 's-Gravenhage, the Netherlands / Bandung, Indonesia. 1660 pp.)
[160]Smitinand, T., 1980. Thai plant names. Royal Forest Department, Bangkok, Thailand. 379 pp.
[176]Stone, B.C., 1974. Towards an improved infrageneric classification in Pandanus (Pandanaceae). Botanische Jahrbücher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie 94(4): 459—540.

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

Brink, M., Jansen, P.C.M. & Bosch, C.H., 2003. Pandanus helicopus Kurz. In: Brink, M and Escobin, R.P. (Editors): Plant Resources of South-East Asia No 17: Fibre plants. PROSEA Foundation, Bogor, Indonesia. Database record: prota4u.org/prosea