Pandanus prostratus

Pandanus prostratus ("Vacoas conique") is a species of plant in the family Pandanaceae, endemic to Mauritius.

Pandanus prostratus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Pandanales
Family: Pandanaceae
Genus: Pandanus
Species:
P. prostratus
Binomial name
Pandanus prostratus
Synonyms[1]

Pandanus conoideus Thouars

Description

A low (3-4m) branching tree, with slender, upturned branches that form a canopy. The trunk is first prostrate but becomes erect as the plant matures. Each stem is topped with a dense tuft of slender, drooping leaves. Older dead leaves are persistent around the stems just below the tuft. The leaves have white spines that are densest near the upper bit of the leaf, and darker and rarer lower down.

This species is also distinguished by its oblong fruit-heads, appearing first erect and then drooping. Each fruit-head is packed with uniseriate rows of long, narrow drupes. The exposed portions of the drupes are pale grey, and the internal portion becomes light yellow when ripe.

Occasionally this species bears more than one fruit-head on the same peduncle. This feature is normally only found in the extinct Pandanus conglomeratus.[2][3][4]

Habitat

It is endemic to Mauritius, and isolated individuals can still be found in thickets in the highlands. It often grows alongside the common and widespread Pandanus eydouxia.[5]

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References
  1. "Pandanus prostratus Balf.f." Plants of the World Online. The Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. n.d. Retrieved 1 August 2020.
  2. Vaughan RE, Wiehe PO (1953) The genus Pandanus in the Mascarene Islands. Journal of the Linnean Society of London, Botany 55(356): 1-33. doi: 10.1111/j.1095-8339.1953.tb00001.x.
  3. Strahm, W.A. 1993. The conservation and restoration of the flora of Mauritius and Rodrigues. Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis (2 vols.), Reading University, UK.
  4. Vaughan, R.E. and Wiehe, P.O. 1953. Flore des Mascareignes, Genus Pandanus. The Sugar Industry Research Institute, Mauritius, ORSTOM, Paris and RBG, Kew.
  5. Roskov Y., Abucay L., Orrell T., Nicolson D., Bailly N., Kirk P.M., Bourgoin T., DeWalt R.E., Decock W., De Wever A., Nieukerken E. van, Zarucchi J., Penev L., eds. (2018). Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life, 20 December 2017. Digital resource at www.catalogueoflife.org/col. Species 2000: Naturalis, Leiden, the Netherlands. ISSN 2405-8858.


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