Pandanus Screwpine

[Ed Dunkel]

Good, I thought the 'DMT' thing would lure you in

I posted this at the bushfood forum and got no replies, maybe some people here can help me out:

I assume that some of us here have already heard of the (alleged) DMT containing Pandanus from Papua New Guinea. (see http://www.entheology.org/edoto/anmviewer.asp?a=70&z=5)

And also its use for weaving material and food...

However, I was wondering what the species of Screwpine is along the NSW coast? I have seen it growing even in Sydney along some beaches (Coogee) but not looking as good as further north.

I was wondering how far south this one grows and if anyone has some seeds of a south growing one (Sydney area or lower) for me to try down in Melbourne. I know I'm game

Cheers,

[ajna]

if it's the same species as is along the Qld coast i believe the name you're after is Pandanus tectorius

[Ed Dunkel]

if it's the same species as is along the Qld coast i believe the name you're after is Pandanus tectorius

Sounds about right.

I just read that the lowest recorded temperature for this one in its natural habitat is 12 C. I wonder if it gets colder on the Sydney beaches than this.

[teonanacatl]

when i looked into this i found a mention of pandanus utilis containing DMT, we used to sell pandanus utilis at the nursery i worked at and i was going to offer them for sale but figured noone would be interested.

[Torsten]

we are growing several varieties of utilis and will analyse when they are a bit bigger.

[Evil Genius]

Hi,

i grow some odoratissimus and bicolor as they are quite attractive. But they are still very small and I have no Idea about the Alkaloid Contents of these plants. Only thing i can tell is that they are very unhandy and spiky.

BestRegs EG

[folias]

The Pandanus strains along the nsw coast are inactive as far as I can tell... the one's in papua new guinea may well be more active!

Julian.

[sobriquet]

The one up most Australian coasts is indeed the tectorius species. I came across this plant at the Gold Coast many years ago when visiting. I took some photos of its interesting bark.

The next time I saw it was four years ago when I first came up to Queensland. I was taken fishing by a friend at Wynnum where there were many of these along the shore. The friend explained that "Wynnum" meant pandanus in Aboriginal and the Aborigines of the area had used them as bush food. That the seeds which were miniscule within the pods were edible.

8 months ago I found some seed pods dropped at the base of a tree at a beach I was at. I collected them but haven't planted them till now. Some of the seed pods had small bore holes through the wood and I assumed they'd been attacked by some insect and discarded those. I might plant the remaining seeds.

Edited August 4, 2006 by eNo