Introduction & Origins
An essential ingredient in South and Southeast Asian cooking, pandan leaves have a distinctive fragrance. Raw leaves smell grassy and nutty, whilst bruised or cooked leaves have a fragrance similar to vanilla and jasmine rice. They are used to flavour everything: from jelly and cakes to rice and chicken. In the tropics, you can often smell a plant before you can see it!
Pandanus amaryllifolius is so widely grown across tropical Asia, no one seems to know the specific area from which it originates. There are no verified records of wild plants, and certainly no records of female flowers or fruits. Occasionally, cultivated plants have been known to produce male flowers, and there have been a few records of this. Unfortunately, I cannot find any photos, just a few diagrams in this paper. It might be possible that pandan is a cultivar of another Pandanus species, but a recent study using DNA samples suggests that pandan is its own distinct species.
The first published record under the name Pandanus amaryllifolius was made in 1813 by Scottish botanist William Roxburgh in Hortus Bengalensis, his catalogue of Calcutta Royal Botanic Garden’s plant species. The record lists the plant as native to the island of Ambon, Indonesia, and that it was donated in 1798. In his posthumous work Flora Indica, he wrote about its appearance. Pandanus latifolius, which is a synonym of this species, was also recorded from Ambon in Rumphius’ Herbarium Amboinense in 1754. It’s hard to tell if pandan was only grown in Ambon at the time, but there doesn’t seem to be any mention of it being grown anywhere else. This might mean pandan’s widespread distribution is a relatively recent thing.
Morphology
Its appearance is superficially similar to a Yucca or a Dracaena, although leaves are arranged in a spiral fashion and aerial roots protude from the stem. Pandan is a beautiful shade of emerald green and forms suckers freely. These make it relatively easy to propagate.
According to Dr. Stone’s snappily titled “Studies in Malesian Pandanaceae XVII on the Taxonomy of ‘Pandan Wangi'”, the plant takes on two growth forms. Plants that are regularly harvested for leaves remain small and produce several offsets, whilst unharvested plants develop into the slow-growing “large form”, where the plant develops a tree-like habit. This larger form produces substantial, woody aerial roots and large leaves similar to other members of its genus.
Leaves and Stem
Unlike the other members of the genus Pandanus, the leaf edge is largely smooth, except with some minute spines towards the tip. Thankfully these are tiny and aren’t too much of danger when eating pandan chicken! Leaves are long, with an emerald green adaxial (top) surface, and a lighter abaxial (bottom) surface. The stem itself is thin, and produces many aerial roots which are often near useless at supporting the plant: taller pandans often fall over.
Culture
Light
Pandan grows well in full sun, although it must be given access to plenty of water in hot weather. It can grow very quickly in a bright position, but I’ve also seen many plants doing well in deep shade.
Temperature
This plant is very tropical in its requirements. When temperatures dip, pandan is prone to rotting, especially plants of the part that are wet. Plants grow best when kept at temperatures above 18°C. There are examples of plants being grown in Sydney and Brisbane but they can keel over during winter if not sheltered. If plants do experience a dip in temperatures, they should be kept on the dry side, and their crowns protected from moisture.
Growing Medium
I haven’t found pandan to be too fussy with soil. I’ve grown it in pure sphagnum, but plants seem to go mad in well draining compost. My current mix is perlite, peat and bark in equal parts. By having well draining mix, it allows plants to be frequently inundated with water without waterlogging. However, this also means I need to keep watering it every few days which luckily isn’t too much of a problem for me.
Water
Pandan is very happy in wet conditions, as long as it is kept warm. In the tropics, P. amaryllifolius makes a very vigorous pond plant. However, when growing indoors, it’s best to water more conservatively. The soil should be kept moist but not wet, however plants can be severely damaged if allowed to dry out. Any weakening of the plant can lead to rot later on.
Propagation
As it doesn’t produce seeds, the only way to propagate pandan is by severing suckers from the plant or taking stem cuttings with plenty of aerial roots.
As mentioned before, plants grown indoors in cooler climes are much more susceptible to rot. Cuttings do not root nearly as vigorously as they do in the tropics, where they can be stuck into the ground and left on their own. I have lost countless cuttings when trying to root them in soil, and I think I have managed to find two reliable methods.
For both methods, a sucker or cutting with as many aerial roots as possible works best. Plants should be prepared by trimming the length of the leaves by half.
Method 1: Rooting in Water
This is a relatively simple method, although of the two is the the most difficult, as it needs to be done carefully to ensure success. If any water gets into the crown, leaf bases, or even touching the stem of the cutting, the plant can succumb to rot. I’ve had plants that seem perfectly healthy one day collapse overnight because their stem was too wet. I usually keep the cutting over a heat mat and in bright, indirect light to provide optimal conditions. I avoid covering it with a bag when rooting in water as heavy condensation tends to drip down into the leaf bases and causes rot.
Method 2: Rooting in Sphagnum
If not packed too tightly, sphagnum keeps the roots of a plant moist whilst allowing them a steady supply of air. It’s also relatively easy to control the moisture level of sphagnum moss. When rooting rot-prone plants like pandan, moist sphagnum is a great choice. There is also evidence that sphagnum moss has antimicrobial properties which help to keep dangerous bacteria and fungi at bay.
Taking care not to cover the base of the lowest leaves, plunge the cutting into a pot of moist sphagnum. The achieve the best level of water, thoroughly soak the sphagnum moss for about 10 minutes, before squeezing as much water out as possible. Place the pot and cutting into a large ziplock bag, taking care to minimise the plant’s contact with the sides of the bag. I tend to put wooden stakes into the pot to hold the inside of the bag away. Keep in a warm location with plenty of indirect light, checking in every couple of days to make sure the sphagnum moss hasn’t dried out.
As with most plants, pandan is very easy to grow provided you “get to know” it. As long as you’re careful to avoid rot, you’ll be rewarded with as many pandan leaves as you need!
Lost and Ferned 