Pandan

Siting: Pandan is best sited in a warm, humid spot with part sun to semi-shade, since harsh summer sun can stress the plant when humidity drops; it grows in well-drained soil enriched with organic matter and can reach 6-8 feet at maturity. It is sensitive to cold and should be kept above roughly 17°C (64°F), as colder conditions cause its appearance to decline, and in temperate climates it needs to be moved indoors before winter chill sets in.

Watering: The soil should be kept consistently moist without becoming waterlogged; in summer the top layer can be allowed to dry slightly between waterings roughly every 6-10 days, while winter watering should be reduced without letting the soil dry out completely.

Feeding and pruning: Pandan responds well to organic feeding, given every two weeks from May to October or several times through spring with a balanced fertilizer. Dry leaf tips should be trimmed back to healthy tissue to keep the plant tidy.

Pests: Aphids and spider mites are the pests reported on pandan, and plants should be checked regularly and treated with organic insecticides if an infestation appears.

Cold stress: In cool conditions the plant's appearance declines rather than growing, reflecting its intolerance of temperatures much below about 17°C.

Pandan leaves are picked and used either fresh or dried, and where the plant does not grow locally they are commonly sold frozen in Asian grocery stores.

Culinary: Pandan leaves are used fresh to flavor and color rice, cakes, and desserts across Southeast and South Asian cuisines, including chiffon cakes, buko pandan dishes in the Philippines, coconut rice, and pulao or biryani in South Asia, where the leaf can substitute for basmati fragrance in ordinary rice. The leaves are also juiced or infused to produce a green extract used as a natural food coloring and flavoring agent.

Ornamental: Its upright, strap-leaved habit is also grown as a garden plant, valued for the contrast its broad foliage brings to subtropical and Balinese-style plantings.

Traditional use: In Philippine folk medicine pandan leaves have been used for stomachache, high blood pressure, urinary tract infection, and kidney complaints, while Ayurvedic tradition has applied the leaves, oil, and other plant parts for constipation, boils, and cold- or flu-like symptoms, including coconut oil infused with the leaves rubbed on joints. The plant is also informally reputed among growers to help repel cockroaches.

Pandanus amaryllifolius is regarded as a true cultigen believed to have been domesticated in ancient times, and it is now sterile, flowering only rarely and reproducing solely through vegetative means such as suckers and cuttings. The species was first described from specimens on the Maluku Islands, where the occasional presence of male flowers has been suggested as a clue to its origin, though no wild populations have ever been confirmed, leaving the matter conjectural. From this uncertain origin it has since spread into cultivation throughout Southeast Asia and South Asia.