Canary flora > Exotic and ornamental
Pandanus utilis
Pandanus utilis Bory
Pandanus, Screw Palm, Spinner, Spinner
Evergreen tree between 3-7 m high, with a straight, smooth trunk and
abundant dichotomous branching at the top, forming a dense, more or less
pyramidal crown. The stems are covered with a bark very marked by the
annular scars left by the dead leaves.
Its main characteristic is that numerous aerial roots emerge from the lower part of the trunk, pale brown in colour and about 3-7 cm in diameter, which descend vertically until they touch the ground, providing support and balance to its wide, heavy crown.
Its main characteristic is that numerous aerial roots emerge from the lower part of the trunk, pale brown in colour and about 3-7 cm in diameter, which descend vertically until they touch the ground, providing support and balance to its wide, heavy crown.
Its very long, bluish-green leaves, between 50-100 cm long and 6-8 cm
wide, grow erect or ascending, and arranged in a spiral of three series,
finally grouping together in the terminal zone of the stems.
They are simple, sessile, but base-hugging, broadly linear, pointed, with numerous parallel longitudinal nerves, and with reddish ascending spines, 1-4 mm long, located on their margins and on the midrib on the underside.
They are simple, sessile, but base-hugging, broadly linear, pointed, with numerous parallel longitudinal nerves, and with reddish ascending spines, 1-4 mm long, located on their margins and on the midrib on the underside.
It is a dioecious plant, with male and female flowers in separate
specimens.
The male flowers are grouped in an inflorescence in the form of a hanging branched spadix about 30-80 cm long, surrounded by a whitish spathe, with numerous fragrant flowers, consisting of 6-10 stamens welded in small columns 10-12 mm long, with pale yellow oblong anthers.
The female flowers are arranged in solitary inflorescences, long stalked, pendulous, subglobose, and formed by numerous densely grouped carpels.
The fruit, more or less spherical and up to 15-20 cm in diameter, hangs from a stout peduncle, and is formed by a set of several fruits welded together, in the manner of a pine cone, called syncarp, made up of about 100-200 compressed drupes, with slits between them, green at first, yellow later, and reddish at the base.
The male flowers are grouped in an inflorescence in the form of a hanging branched spadix about 30-80 cm long, surrounded by a whitish spathe, with numerous fragrant flowers, consisting of 6-10 stamens welded in small columns 10-12 mm long, with pale yellow oblong anthers.
The female flowers are arranged in solitary inflorescences, long stalked, pendulous, subglobose, and formed by numerous densely grouped carpels.
The fruit, more or less spherical and up to 15-20 cm in diameter, hangs from a stout peduncle, and is formed by a set of several fruits welded together, in the manner of a pine cone, called syncarp, made up of about 100-200 compressed drupes, with slits between them, green at first, yellow later, and reddish at the base.
