Common name: Scented Pandan

Scented Pandan is a perennial herb native to Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, where people have long used its leaves to scent and colour local dishes.

Like other Pandanus, it develops a slender, semi-woody stem topped with a crown of long, sword-shaped leaves and can reach up to 8 m (26 ft) if left unmanaged. In the home garden, plants are kept between 0.5 and 1.5 m (1.6 and 5 ft) by repeatedly harvesting the leaves.

The stem is light brown and marked by leaf scars, but is barely visible in young plants because it has not yet developed. Dark green, sword-shaped leaves wrap spirally around it, reaching up to 1 m (3 ft) long. As the plant ages, the stem grows taller and upright, lifting the leaves high above the ground. At the same time, aerial roots arise along the length, and those near the base grow stilt-like, anchoring the plant in the soil.

Scented Pandan is not known to flower and fruit in cultivation and instead regenerates from root suckers.

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Edible uses

Natural flavouring - Scented Pandan is commonly cultivated in Southeast Asia, India, and Sri Lanka for its leaves, which are harvested when young and used to impart a sweet, musky, somewhat nutty aroma to dishes. People mostly add them to steamed rice, curries, and desserts, especially those made with coconut milk. Usually, one or two leaves are tied in a knot and added to the rice water, curry sauce, or dessert mixture at the start of cooking, then removed and discarded once cooking is finished. In Thailand, the leaves are also used to wrap pieces of marinated chicken or fish into parcels, which are deep-fried (or first steamed, then deep-fried) and served with a spicy dipping sauce.

Natural food colouring - People also make green food colouring by cutting, crushing, or blending the leaves with water. It is used daily to colour cakes, jellies, and puddings served in bakeries and sweet shops in India and Southeast Asia.

Material uses

Floral arrangement - The bright green, long, slender leaves also lend themselves to floral arrangements, particularly tall ones, as backing greenery or accent foliage.

Natural insect repellent - People in Southeast Asia, particularly Singapore, plant Pandanus as a cockroach repellent. Some evidence supporting this comes from a research study evaluating the efficacy of various essential oils in repelling the American Cockroach (Periplaneta americana), published in the Journal of Agricultural Technology, Vol. 9, no. 6 (2013): pp. 1613-1620.

The study found, however, that although pandanus leaf oil provided 57% repellency, it was not as effective as the essential oils of Turmeric (Curcuma longa), Cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum), Ginger (Zingiber officinale) or Clove (Syzygium aromaticum), which provided 100% repellency against the American Cockroach.

Environmental uses

Groundcover - Scented Pandan is also sometimes planted in garden beds as a ground cover,

Fragrant plant - ...or as a fragrant border.

Pandan cake with coconut cream and sesame seed (Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam)

Climate

Grows naturally in humid subtropical and tropical climates, generally in areas with annual lows of 18 to 25°C, annual highs of 27 to 35°C, annual rainfall of 1200 to 5000 mm and a dry season of 6 months or less.

Scented Pandan can also be grown in pots or containers in cooler climates, provided it can be moved indoors when temperatures consistently fall below 15°C (59°F).

Growing

New plants are usually started from cuttings, suckers or divisions, as seeds are not normally produced. Tip cuttings work well and are set in a coarse sand mixture in the shade to develop roots before replanting. Suckers and divisions taken from established clumps can be replanted directly.

It performs best in rich, free-draining loam and sand soils of a moderately acid to slightly alkaline nature, generally with a pH of 5.0 to 7.5, and on sites with full to partial sun exposure.

Problem features

It has escaped cultivation in Singapore, probably due to its suckering habit, which causes localised spread. Still, there appears to be no record of it as a serious weed or invasive species anywhere.

Books

• Jacquat, C. & Bertossa, G. 1990, Plants from the markets of Thailand : descriptions and uses of 241 wild and cultivated plants, with 341 colour photographs, Editions Duang Kamol, Bangkok

• Macmillan, H. F. 1943, Tropical planting and gardening : with special reference to Ceylon, 5th ed, Macmillan Publishing, London

• Norrington, L. & Campbell, C. 2001, Tropical food gardens : a guide to growing fruit, herbs and vegetables in tropical and sub-tropical climates, Bloomings Books, Hawthorn, Victoria

• Randall, R. P. 2002, A global compendium of weeds, R.G. and F.J. Richardson Press, Melbourne

• Randall, R. P. 2007, The introduced flora of Australia and its weed status, Cooperative Research Centre for Australian Weed Management, Glen Osmond, South Australia

• Seidemann, J. 2005, World spice plants: economic usage botany taxonomy, Springer-Verlag, Berlin

• Selvam, V. 2007, Trees and shrubs of the Maldives, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) RAP publication (Maldives), Thammada Press Company Ltd., Bangkok

• Staples, G. & Kristiansen, M. S. 1999, Ethnic culinary herbs : a guide to identification and cultivation in Hawaii, University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu