1328 
INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
N> 0. PANDANE2E. 
1304. Pandanus fascicubaris, Lam. H.F.B.I., vx. 
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 (Tam.) ; Mugali, Gaangi, ketaki (Tel.). 
Hahitat : — 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-|in. 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 aDti-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. 
