Revision of the Genus Pandanus Stickman, Part 21 
The Pandanus monticola Group in Queensland, Australia 
Harold St. John 1 
In Australia the section Acrostigma of the 
genus Pandanus occurs only in the rain forests 
of eastern Queensland. The first known species 
there was P. monticola F. Muell. It is here 
given a full description and illustrations, as is 
one new species segregated from it. 
Section Acrostigma 
Pandanus monticola F. Muell. (sect. Acro- 
stigma ), Fragm. Phytog. Austral. 5:42, 
1865; 7:63, 1870; 8:220, 1874; Mar- 
telli, Webbia 4(2) :pl. 30, fig. 21-27, 
1914 
Figs. 232-234 
description (from St. John 26,237) : Shrubs 
1-3 m tall, simple, erect or decumbent; stem 
25-40 mm in diameter, yellowish, unarmed, 
bearing in a terminal plume the arching leaves 
1.8-2.18 m long, 4 cm wide near the base, 
4.2 cm wide at the middle, subcoriaceous, 
ligulate, gradually long tapering to a subulate 
tip which 10 cm down is 7 mm wide, the very 
base unarmed and amplexicaul but beginning 
5 cm up the margins with spines 1.5-2 mm 
long, 1.5-5 mm apart, the lowest ascending but 
the others salient, subulate, stramineous; the 
nearby midrib with prickles 0. 5-0.8 mm long, 
1.5-6 mm apart, the base thick like a boss, the 
apex reflexed and subulate-conic; at the mid- 
section the margins with prickles 0. 5-0.9 mm 
long, 2-5 mm apart, subulate, appressed as- 
cending; the nearby midrib unarmed; near the 
tip the margins and midrib below with the 
teeth 0.3-0. 5 mm long, 1-3 mm apart, subu- 
late-serrate, ascending, above the two pleats 
with teeth 0. 5-0.7 mm long, similar but 
broader-based and occasionally double; pistil- 
late inflorescence terminal, erect, 2-headed, the 
upper syncarp larger, but with a small, secon- 
1 B. P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii. Manu- 
script received December 3, 1962. 
dary, subterminal one below; peduncle 50 cm 
long, 1 cm in diameter, trigonous, leafy 
bracted, the middle bracts 65 cm long, 3-4 cm 
wide; the larger syncarp 9-5 cm long, 7.5 cm 
in diameter, ovoid, bearing very numerous 
drupes, these 24-28 mm long, 2-3 mm wide, 
1.5-2. 5 mm thick, yellow, narrowly lance- 
subulate, 4-6-angled, upper % free ; p ileus 
13-14 mm long, subulate, sharply angled on 
drying, the surface smooth, the tip curved to- 
ward the apex of the syncarp; style 6-8 mm 
long, subulate, cartilaginous, yellowish, smooth, 
arcuate; stigma distal, 5-6 mm long, linear, 
brown ; endocarp in lower ninth, 4-6 mm long, 
cartilaginous, yellowish, the walls 0.1 mm 
thick; seeds 4 mm long, broad oblong-ellip- 
soid; apical mesocarp with a central core of 
fibers and with fleshy sides ; basal mesocarp 
very small, fibrous and fleshy. 
holotype: Australia, Rockingham’s Bay 
proximis (staminate only), (mel), specimen 
examined! This was published as "montibus 
sinu Rockingham’s Bay proximis.” Isotype (k) ! 
In the Paris herbarium there is an original 
collection, with part of a leaf and half of a 
syncarp, that is a far better specimen than the 
holotype preserved in Melbourne. It was dis- 
tributed by von Mueller in 1874, and the data 
is in his handwriting: "Rockingham’s Bay, on 
mountains, most probably this belongs to P. 
monticola , of which I had no flowers, when I 
described it, fruit small, bracts white.” (p) ! 
specimens examined: Queensland, without 
locality, L. J. Brass 2,128 (a) ; in valle 
Dalrympli, 22 Oct. 1864, /. Dallachy (mel) ; 
Russell River, F. von Mueller (mel) ; Mt. 
Bellenden-Ker, 1895, Mrs. Gribble (mel) ; 
Cairns, Fresh Water Creek, common, moist 
forest, 500 ft alt, Jan. 29, 1958, H. St. John 
26,237 (bish). 
272 
