Thanks so much for that! Very interesting!

AFAIK they are not closely related to any common fruit. They are monocots, so they are kind of distantly related to bananas, dates, and coconuts. But that is a sufficient distance that I might as well claim they are related to wheat, barley, and oats, or to vanilla beans.

So, some Pandanus tivia:
There is another Pandanus with fruit that is sometimes eaten, Pandanus utilis, aka the common screwpine. But their fruit is unpalatable, and needs to be cooked. Rodents like them, though.

Pandanus may well be more important as a source of fibres than of food. Fibres from the leaves turn up in string and rope, baskets, clothing, mats and sails. The leaves are also used for thatching.

Some Pandanus have leaves that are important flavourings. The best known of these is pandan. It is used in India and Sri Lanka to flavour rice and desserts. It is also used in Malaysian and Thai cooking, including pandan chicken (yum). These leaves are also used as traditional medicines, and extracts might have some effect reducing fever.

Somewhere buried in my book collection I have a couple of books on wild foods in Australia. They both recommend cutting the young “fronds” out of the hearts of the crowns of coastal Pandanus and boiling them as a substitute for cabbage. I’ve never tried it. Given how sharp and nasty the surrounding full grown leaves are I doubt it would be worth the effort except in emergencies.

I’ve always thought she looks like a really nice person – I’m glad to know she is.

I really like mangled signage too. However, when I see it in real life, I can’t buy from the store concerned. It worries me somehow.

When I worked for the Waikato District Health Board, part of my job involved statistical analysis of all incidents involving patients. It never ceased to amaze me how bad the spelling of some educated health professionals was e.g. someone who had been a nurse for 30 years and still couldn’t spell paracetamol, and I don’t mean just a little bit wrong – parrasitemolle.

Ha ha! That pic would make a good Tweet!

Thanks for that. Do you know of any more common fruit it’s related to?

It shocked me the number of senators who opposed funding for Sandy.

We have quite a few mountaineers in NZ because of the legacy of Ed Hillary, and they’re a mad bunch! They get quite obsessive about the mountains they climb and the way they do it.

The band and the song’s well known and popular in NZ, and it’s referring partly to our weather. A lot of our top bands end up in Australia because they can make a lot more money there because of the bigger population.

I remember once wanting to plant some ivy next to a house so it would grow all over it like the one shown. Apparently, plants do a lot of damage to houses they grow on. Makes sense as they need to grab hold and I’m sure over time the bricks/mortar/wood would become compromised. Sure looks cool though! And I bet it takes a real long time for any serious damage.

Funny when you mentioned New Zealand was known for having 4 seasons in one day, I was reminded of a Crowded House song by that name. I knew Crowded House was from Australia, but after googling, I found that the band’s founder, Neil Finn, is a New Zealander. Learn something new every day! And if you don’t know the song, check it out, it’s a good’n. Here’s a live version from ’09: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeYEyCDRHmE