KEORA. e7 
KEorRA. 
The name Seora-is applied in Hindustanee to a fragrant 
flowering species of Screw-pine, the Pandanus odoratissimus, Lin. 
fil., which is common on marshy land and in the vicinity of the 
sea in many of the warmest places in the tropics. It is described 
and figured by Roxburgh*; as Pandanus verus by Rumphius +, 
and as Kaida by Van Rheedet{; also as Keyro by Forskal§. The 
Sanskrit name is Ketuka, the Bengalee Kea. By Europeans on 
the Coromandel] coast it is known as Kaldera. 
The male and female flowers are always on separate trees. In 
the Telinga dialect the male tree is known as Mugalik and the 
female as Gozdoogoo. The Malay name of the tree (irrespective 
of gender) is Pandang. In Tahitiit is called Fara or Wharra, and 
in the Hawaiian Islands Hala. 
In the East Indies the tree attains a height of 10 to 20 feet, in 
Mauritius 30 feet, and in some places, as in the Nicobar Islands, 
where it is known as Mellore or “ Nicobar Bread-fruit ” (which 
may be a variety of this species), it has been described as attaining 
a height of 35 to 40 feet |]. 
Occasionally this tree may be found with a round branching 
head, but generally it is in the form of a large ramous spreading 
bush. From the stem or larger branches, long, fusiform, obtusely 
pointed roots ensue, descending till they come to the ground, 
which they enter and then divide. The substance of the most 
solid part of the wood is something like that of a cabbage-stem, 
which by age acquires a woody hardness, on the outside. The 
smooth glossy leaves are confluent, stem-clasping, and closely 
imbricated ; they form three spiral rows round the extremities of 
the branches, drooping, from 3 to 5 feet long, and tapering to a 
very long, fine, triangular point. The margins and back of the 
leaves are armed with very fine sharp spines, those on the margins 
pointing forwards, those on the back pointing sometimes one way 
sometimes the other. The leaves are composed of longitudinal, 
tough, useful fibres like those of the pineapple. The flowers of 
* Corom. i. tabb. 94, 96. t+ Amb. iv. p. 139, tab. 74. 
t Mal. ii. tab. i. 5. § Agypt. tab. 72. 
|| As. Res. iii. p. 161. 
