Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 2).djvu/578

Syn : — Pandanus odoratissimus, willd Roxb 707.

Sans. : — Ketaka ; Ketaki.

Vern. : — Keorâ ; ketgi ; gagandhul (H.) ; Keyâ ; ketuki (B.); Kenda (Bomb.) ; Keodá (Mar.) ; Kewoda (Guz.) ; Talum ; tazhai ; thalay (Tam.) ; Mugali, Gâangi, ketaki (Tel.).

Habitat: — Sea- coast of the Peninsula, on both sides, Burma, Ceylon seacoast, Andaman and Coco Islands. Common on the sea shore. Gamble says that native women (India) " wear the panicles in their hair." They wear the white bracts also which are more fragrant, I may add. (K. R. Kirtikar.)

Diœcious, gregarious, perennials, much, branched. Stem bent, sometimes up to 25ft. high, but more often shrubby, resting on strong aerial roots. Leaves bright or dull-green, but seldom glaucous, 3-5ft. long, caudate, acuminate, always with slightly curved strong spines on edges and mid-rib. Male plant throws out at the end of the branch a spadix with numerous sessile cylindric spikes, 2-3in. long, enclosed by white, fragrant, caudate, acuminate spathes, staminal column ¼-½in. long, anthers cuspidate inserted along the whole length of the upper portion (Brandis). The female plant bears no male floral organs. Female spadix solitary, 2in. diam., enclosed in spathiform yellow bracts like those of the male inflorescence, but stricter. Carpels confluent in obpyramidal groups of 6-10 or fewer, green, stigmas short, reniform, yellow ; fruit an oblong or globose orange or scarlet, syncarp 6-10in. long and broad, carpels 2-3in. long, turbinate, angular, confluent, crown smooth, convex, more or less depressed round the reniform stigmas (Trimen).

Uses : — The oil and otto, obtained from the bracts ; are considered stimulant and anti-spasmodic and are administered for headache and rheumatism. A medicinal oil is prepared from the roots. The aerial root is used medicinally by the Sinhalese.