Family: Pandanaceae R. Br.
Distribution: One of 4 species of Pandanus endemic to the Seychelles archipelago. It is distributed only in inner islands (Mahé, Praslin, Silhouette, La Digue, Curieuse and Frégate).
Ecology: It is found in typical glacis – high round hills with very shallow, drying, poor soils on extremely hard granits, localities are distributed from sea level up to about 500 m. It creates thickets difficult to penetrate.
Description: Dioecious shrub up to 4 m; most of individuals develop polycormons without main trunk, only some of these form conical habit. Leaves are extremely prickly, sword-shaped, up to 1.7 m long, arranged spirally in 3 ranks at the tips of branches, they are light green, with white spines on margins and midrib, sometimes with black tips. Male inflorescence is whitish, bracteate; female inflorescence is composed by 6–8 dense spikes with about 400 flowers without sepals or petals, surrounded by persistent leaf-like bracts. Ripe fruits look similar to maize cobs, they are erect; separate drupes are small, yellow, rounded, without polygonal structure on the top.
These images were taken in Seychelles, Mahé Is., NP Morne Seychellois: glacis Copolia; Praslin: glacis Noir (by Vít Grulich and Alena Vydrová, 4. and 9. 2. 2011).
