1328 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



N; 0. PANDANE^E. 



1304. Pandanus fascicutaris, Lam. h.f.b.i., vi. 



485. 



Syn : — Pandanus odoratissimus, willd Roxb 707. 



Sans. : — Ketaka ; Ketaki. 



Vern. : — Keora ; ketgi ; gagandhul (H.) ; Keya ; ketuki (B.^; 

 Kenda (Bomb.) ; Keoda (Mar.) ; Kewoda (Guz.) ; Talum ; tazhai ; 

 tbalay (Tarn.) ; Mugali, Gaangi, ketaki (Tel.). 



Habitat: — Sea- coast of the Peninsula, on both sides, 

 Burma, Ceylon seacoast, Andaman and Coco Islands. Common 

 on the sea shore. Gamble says that native women (India) " wear 

 the panicles in their hair." They wear the white bracts also 

 which are more fragrant, I may add. (K. R. Kirtikar.) 



Dioecious, gregarious, perennials, much, branched. Stem 

 bent, sometimes up to 25ft. high, but more often shrubby, rest- 

 ing on strong aerial roots. Leaves bright or dull-green, but sel- 

 dom glaucous, 3-5ft. long, caudate, acuminate, always with 

 slightly curved strong spines on edges and mid-rib. Male plant 

 throws out at the end of the branch a spadix with numerous 

 sessile cylindric spikes, 2-3in. long, enclosed by white, fragrant, 

 caudate, acuminate spathes, staminal column J-Jin. long, an- 

 thers cuspidate inserted along the whole length of the upper 

 portion (Brandis). The female plant bears no male floral organs. 

 Female spadix solitary, 2in. diam., enclosed in spathiform yellow 

 bracts like those of the male inflorescence, but stricter. Carpels 

 confluent in obpyramidal groups of 6-10 or fewer, green, stigmas 

 short, reniform, yellow ; fruit an oblong or globose orange or 

 scarlet, syncarp 6-10in. long and broad, carpels 2-3in. long, 

 turbinate, angular, confluent, crown smooth, convex, more or less 

 depressed round the reniform stigmas (Trimen). 



Uses : — The oil and otto, obtained from the bracts ; are 

 considered stimulant and anti-spasmodic and are administered 

 for headache and rheumatism. A medicinal oil is prepared from 

 the roots. The aerial root is used medicinally by the Sinhalese. 



