Family: Pandanaceae R. Br.
Distribution: Endemic to the Seychelles archipelago, it is known only from granitic inner islands (Mahé, Praslin, Silhouette, La Digue and Curieuse). This genus is very numerous – about 600 species – in Old World tropics (from Africa to South Asia and Oceania).
Ecology: It prefers bouldery slopes with shrubs or open forests from about sea level up to mist forests in higher altitudes. There are stony and drier soils and permanent very hot and rather wet climate.
Description: Dioecious shrub or tree up to about 15 m; it is formed by several stilt roots which grow downwards from the branches, main or dominant trunk is often undistinct. Sword-shaped leaves grow spirally in 3 rows at the tips of branches, they are 1–1.5 m long, light green, with small whitish or pink spines on margins and midrib. Male inflorescence is compact, protected by whitish bracts; female inflorescence is pendulous, composed by about 70 flowers. Ripe fruits resemble pineapple, they are globose, up to 30 cm in size; separate drupes are fusiform, up to 12 cm long, purple below, green and with some distinctive prominences on the flat apex.
These images were taken in Seychelles, Mahé Is., NP Morne Seychellois (by Vít Grulich and Alena Vydrová, 2.–7. 2. 2011).
