Pandanus tectorius 'Sanderi'

variegated thatch screw-pine

Thatch screw-pine, although a plant unknown to most Americans, is a vital plant to the people of Micronesia. If you live on a small island or atoll, it can be very difficult to obtain supplies from other locations, so ingenious use of the plants available on the island become necessary to survival. For example, the leaves have been woven into baskets, mats, hats, grass skirts, fishnets, and even canoe sails! Children will also bundle the leaves together to create a ball for kicking games. The long, tough leaves of this plant are used to thatch roofs, which are reported to last up to 15 years, as opposed to the 5 years of durability ascribed to coconut palm thatching. Young leaves make good food for livestock, such as horses and pigs.

The large globose fruits are broken apart into “keys” and eaten (if from a variety low in calcium oxalate crystals) either raw or cooked. In Micronesia, these fruits can make up 50% of an individual’s diet; natives consume about two pounds of the raw fruit per day. The fruits are usually eaten outside of normal mealtimes as a social activity. In addition to providing nutrition, the fibrous fruits serve as natural dental floss. Mokilese people would harvest the fruits during their season and gather together to enjoy the day and cook recipes together as a community. One thing I love about many “traditional” societies is their emphasis on family and community, which permeates most aspects of their lives. Babies even enjoy pandanus keys!:

The fruits are also strung into garlands and used as an ingredient in perfume. Dried seeds are used as fishing bobbers or charcoal, as the seeds’ slow-burning properties make it ideal for barbequing. Instead of eating the fruit, one may use it as bait to catch another tasty treat: lobster.

Fragrant male flowers are used to scent coconut oil and perfume clothing either on their own or in combination with other flowers. They have also been used to make garlands, but I would be pretty uncomfortable wearing one, as bees LOVE these flowers.

The trunks of male and female trees differ in ways that make them suitable for different uses: female trunks have a soft interior that enables them to be hollowed out for use as water pipes, whereas male trunks are solid throughout, which makes them more valuable for construction.

The distinctive aerial roots of this plant are cut for use in making fish traps (corrals) and may also be retted and cleaned to yield fiber for cordage.

The plant may be used medicinally; roots and the white bases of young leaves are most commonly used in Kiribati. The roots are made into a tea to treat hemorrhoids, relieve vomiting, and settle the stomach, while the leaves are used in treatments against colds, the flu, boils, hepatitis, and cancer.

Thatch screw-pines grow on sandy shorelines, where they have developed a tolerance of high winds, drought, and salt spray.