Pandanus tectorius
species of plant
Pandanus tectorius is a species of Pandanus (screwpine) that is native to Malesia, Papuasia, eastern Australia, and the Pacific Islands. It grows in the coastal lowlands typically near the edge of the ocean. Common names in English include thatch screwpine, Tahitian screwpine, hala tree (pū hala in Hawaiian) and pandanus. The fruit is edible and sometimes known as hala fruit.
The local Hawaiian name hala derives ultimately from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *paŋdan which is also the base for the Pandanus generic name via Malay: pandan; the Malay name for the plant itself is pandan laut (lit. 'sea pandan').
Description
P. tectorius is a small tree that grows upright to reach 4–14 m (13–46 ft) in height. The single trunk is slender with brown ringed bark. It is spiny, grows to 4.5–11 m (15–35 ft) in width, and forks at a height of 4–8 metres (13–26 ft). It is supported by aerial roots (prop roots) that firmly anchors the tree to the ground.
The public source identifies “Pandanus tectorius” as species of plant. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Pandanus, tectorius and species.
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Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 13, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q312736. The Library of Congress control number is sh85058399. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Pandanus tectorius” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.