the.com/screwpine
the palm-faker that grows legs to walk away from its own problems.
means A tropical plant of the genus Pandanus, recognizable by its spirally arranged sword-shaped leaves and prop roots that arch down from the trunk like stilts, often found near coasts.
from A practical English mash-up from the 18th century: 'screw' for the way the leaves spiral up the trunk like the thread of a screw, and 'pine' because early observers thought its fruit resembled a pineapple. Neither half is botanically precise — it's no pine at all — but the name stuck. Its genus name Pandanus comes from the Malay 'pandan,' the everyday word for these plants across Southeast Asia.
- not a pine
- Pandanus, related to grasses and lilies
- stilt roots
- props let it slowly relocate over years
- kitchen star
- pandan leaves flavor desserts across Southeast Asia
- spiral leaves
- foliage twists around the trunk like a screw
- survivor
- thrives in salty coastal sand others can't
pandanus amaryllifolius — tropical screwpine species native to southeast asia, used in malaysian and indonesian cuisine for flavoring
pandanus utilis — east african screwpine species, cultivated in madagascar and other indian ocean islands for fiber and food