the.com/screw pine
A tree that walks on stilts, fruits like a chandelier, and isn't a pine at all.
means A tropical tree or shrub of the genus Pandanus, marked by spirally arranged sword-shaped leaves and prop roots, often grown for its foliage, fragrant leaves, or large segmented fruit.
from An English compound from "screw" plus "pine." The "screw" comes from the leaves' spiral, helix-like arrangement around the stem, which twists like the thread of a screw; the "pine" is borrowed loosely because the clustered fruit was thought to resemble a pineapple or pinecone — though the plant is no relation to true pines at all. The genus name Pandanus is a Latinization of the Malay word "pandan," the name for these plants across Southeast Asia.
- prop roots
- Aerial stilt roots let it slowly migrate sideways
- fake pine
- Not a pine; named for spiral, screw-like leaves
- giant fruit
- Heads resemble pineapples grenade-clustered into red orbs
- flavor leaf
- Pandan leaves perfume Southeast Asian rice and desserts
- coast guard
- Roots anchor beaches against erosion and tsunamis
pandanus amaryllifolius — tropical plant native to southeast asia, used in malaysian and indonesian cuisine for flavoring rice and desserts
pandanus utilis — east african species cultivated in madagascar and zanzibar, leaves woven into mats and baskets since the 19th century