Pandanus tectorius



Pandanus tectorius
Pandanus tectorius
Pandanus tectorius trunk spiral
Pandanus tectorius leaf



Scientific Name : Pandanus tectorius
Common Name : Screw Pine, Pandanus tree
Chamorro Name : åkgak



Sorry about the mess behind the tree! The mess was caused by a major typhoon! This is the åkgak tree (pronounced awhk-gahk) or the screw pine. The only type of pandanus tree that is used for weaving is the åkgak tree, there are others, like kafu tree (Pandanus fragrans) (pronounced kah-foo) but the leaves on that are too brittle. Then there is the pahong (Pandanus dubius) which, the leaves are nice and long and wide, but again the leaves are too brittle. The åkgak tree is also a cultivator, it does not produce seeds, and to plant this tree, you need to cut off branches, and plant the cuttings. This type of tree is a male tree, and on Guam, åkgak only comes in a male form... The second pic is another åkgak tree that I planted and as you can see in the picture it is branching out in several places. Pic #3 is the trunk spiral and Pic #4 is the leaf up close.

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This WebPage was thought of in `99 Was made on 09/05/1999 and was last UPDATED! on 12/24/2001