#Pandanaceae is a family of flowering plants native to the tropics and subtropicsof the Old World, from West Africa to the Pacific. It contains 982 known species[2] in five genera,[3] of which the type genus,

#Pandanaceae is a family of flowering plants native to the tropics and subtropicsof the Old World, from West Africa to the Pacific. It contains 982 known species[2] in five genera,[3] of which the type genus,

Pandanus cookii
Pandanaceae
Jerona, Barratta's Creek,
North Queensland, Australia.
#Pandanus cookii #Pandanaceae #Cook'sScrewPine #ozplants #ozflora #Australiannature #wildoz #botany #nature #biodiversity

Photo of the inflorescence of this species. The strappy green leaves are visible. The spikes of tiny flowers are subtended by broad, orange bracts.

Freycinetia cumingiana has pseudanthia comprised of showy bracts surrounding the spikes of tiny, unisexual flowers. These pseudanthia are visited by birds, who are the likely pollinators. #Pandanaceae #pseudanthia #botany 🌾🧪🌱

Fantastic new paper that documents insect pollination in #Pandanus, a genus thought to be wind-pollinated. Brood-site pollination. #Pandanaceae #Pollination #Botany #Coleoptera 🧪🌾
doi.org/10.1093/botl...

Selfy photo with a shrubby pandan in the background. Each strappy leaf has a golden yellow longitudinal stripe down the middle.

Seeing pandans is always a thrill! Can you see the exhilaration & delight on my face?😁 (I was simultaneously trying to remember the name & take the photo.) This was known as P. baptistii ‘Variegata’ but is now P. tectorius ‘Variegata’ #Pandanaceae #TropicalBotany #Botany #PlantScience 🌾🧪

Photo looking up along a cone of stilt roots in a tall arborescent pandan. A hand holding a can of beer is visible for scale. The stilt roots are at least 4 meters tall.

The massive cone of stilt roots on some Pandanus species is truly astonishing (look for the hand holding a beer can in the lower right for scale). This is an unidentified species from New Guinea in cultivation in Hawaii. #Pandanaceae #TropicalBotany #Botany #PlantScience 🌾🧪

There are so many things I love about #Pandanaceae roots. Where to begin? Ok, sometimes they can look a bit rude (all part of the fun!), but they are fantastic for teaching about root caps. 📷: Pandanus utilis #TropicalBotany #Botany #PlantScience 🌾🧪

Photo of a young pandanus plant with long strappy leaves.

Pandanus candelabrum (📷: Paul Latham CCBYNC2) of tropical West Africa is thought to be an indicator of diamonds! 💎 It grows well on soils overlying kimberlite pipes, the sources of diamonds. Add “geobotanical indicator” to the many uses of Pandanus. #TropicalBotany #Pandanaceae #Botany 🌾🧪

Photo looking across a treeless wetland with a large population of large, rosette plants of P. platyphyllus.

Pandanus platyphyllus grows in open wetlands in #Madagascar. It looks like a giant tank bromeliad, & like a bromeliad, it holds water in its leaf axils that is used by amphibians and other critters. #phytotelmata #TropicalBotany #Pandanaceae #Botany #PlantScience 🌾🧪

Photo of a tree trunk with a Freycinetia climbing straight up the bole.

Here’s an unidentified Freycinetia sp. in a Papuan rainforest. It’s a root-climber. #Freycinetia is a marvelous but poorly studied genus. Species range in size from tiny (leaves only a few cm long) to massive with leaves over a meter long. #Pandanaceae #Botany #PlantScience 🌾🧪

Photo of narrow-leafed rosette Pandanus species growing in water.

Photo of a broad-leaf rosette Pandanus growing in shallow water. The rhizomes are visible.

Here are some aquatic Pandanus species. I was unable to identify either one. 😞 📷1: growing along the banks of the Andriambe River, Madagascar. 📷2: from Terengganu, Malaysia. #TropicalBotany #Pandanaceae #Botany #PlantScience 🌾🧪

Photo looking up into a tree where an epiphytic plant is perched. It has a rosette of long, strappy leaves.

This is the aptly named Benstonea epiphytica. Not only is it an #epiphyte, but it's also a litter-trapper (you can read more about that growth form here doi.org/10.1111/boj.... ) 📷: Clive Lundquist #TropicalBotany #littertrapper #Pandanaceae #Botany #PlantScience 🌾🧪

Impounded leaf litter is so valuable that other trees try to steal the nutrients. Roots from nearby trees climb up the stem of this litter-trapping Pandanus in Madagascar. The zig-zag recalls how the roots grew between overlapping leaf bases to get to the litter. 6/6 Fin. #Pandanaceae