Pandanus amaryllifolius Roxb. family of Pandanaceae with the common name Pandan, Pandan wangi, Pandan rampeh. Probable origin Moluccas, Indonesia; widely cultivated in the Indian subcontinent, Indo-China, Malaysia.
P. amaryllifolius is one of the plants that is capable of evoking nostalgic memories of South-East Asian life solely by its scent.
Pandanaceae is a paleotropical monocot family that comprises 4 genera (ie. Pandanus, Freycinetia, Martellidendron and Sararanga). Pandanus is the largest genus with 8 subgenera and 700 species, follow by Freycinetia (200 species), Martellidendron (6 species) and Sararanga (2 species) (Buerki et al., 2012).
The distinct features of Pandanaceae are its marginal and midrib prickles on the leaves (Stone, 1978 and Steven, 2001). Pandanaceae could be a challenge to be distinguish in the field with Cyclanthaceae and Arecaceae because of their similar structure and habit. Nevertheless confusion with Cyclanthaceae, which is a sister group with Pandanceae (APG III, 2009) can be differentiated by the arrangement of leaves: Pandanaceae leaves are mostly arranged in 3-4 ranks whereas Cyclanthaceae are mostly in 2 ranks (Stevens, 2001). Pandanaceae can be differentiated from Arecaceae by their leaf development. Arecaceae leaves are folded when young but will eventually split at the margin as they expand while Pandanaceae leaves remain entire.
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