Pandanus utilis

screw-pine

The screw-pine has a misleading common name that might make you wonder if this is some sort of strange tropical pine tree. In actuality, it is more closely related to orchids than it is to pine trees. These types of plants are in their own family, the Screw-pine Family, and this particular species is native to the islands surrounding Madagascar.

Screw-pine is truly a tropical plant, adapted to a frost-free environment and seasonal rainfall. The striking aerial roots found on this palm closely resemble those found on the red mangroves you see on the horizon and provide stabilization for the plant in sandy soil, making it a useful and durable choice for erosion control and windscreens. The roots can be cut and frayed at the ends to make coarse brushes for whitewashing. They could probably also make effective toothbrushes, though you’d need to make a bristle category above “very hard” for them. Medicinal treatments for venereal diseases are made from roots of this plant, perhaps because emerging roots have a quite a phallic appearance...good thing the Resort is adults only. This resemblance might also explain why male inflorescences (flower stalks) have been cooked and eaten as an aphrodisiac in their native range.

The fruits are edible but must be cooked before eating to neutralize calcium oxalate crystals, which irritate the mouth. Plants are either male or female, with fruits only occurring on female plants.

Leaves of young unbranched trees are longer and suppler than those of older specimens, so they are chosen for making baskets, bags, hats, mats, nets, rope, and roofs in the screw-pine’s native range. Here is a short video clip of a man making a thatch roof from Pandanus leaves in Bora Bora: