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17: Fibre plants

Pandanus radicans Blanco

PANDANACEAE

Pandanus olango Blanco ex Espejo & Garcia.

Philippines: oyañgo (Bikol), olañgo (Bisaya), uyañgo (Manobo).

Widely found in the Philippines.

The leaves are used in the Philippines to make coarse mats, bags and hats. Fibres have been extracted from the long prop roots and woven into fine cloth, but these fibres are not used anymore. In Mindanao the wood has been used for the manufacture of splints for basket-making.

A dioecious tree, stem up to 8 m tall and 20 cm in diameter. Leaves 6 m x 12 cm, margin with ascending 3—4 mm long prickles 3—8 mm apart; each half with 74 parallel secondary veins and no visible tertiary veins. Female inflorescence racemose-spicate with several heads; carpellate phalanges broadly cylindrical-ellipsoid, 25 mm x 13 mm, the upper third free, lower part connate; stigmas cordate. Fruit a syncarpous polydrupe, dark, brick-red. Pandanus radicans occurs in forests at low altitudes. According to B.C. Stone, Pandanus radicans is classified in subgenus Pandanus sensu Stone, section Elmeria.

[19]Brown, W.H., 1951—1957. Useful plants of the Philippines. Reprint of the 1941—1947 edition. 3 volumes. Technical Bulletin 10. Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Bureau of Printing, Manila, the Philippines. Vol. 1 (1951) 590 pp.,
[170]St. John, H., 1980. Revision of the genus Pandanus Stickman. Part 44. Pandanus piricus (sect. Elmeria) from the Philippines. Botanische Jahrbücher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie 101(3): 389—391.
[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 radicans Blanco. 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