Pandanus conoideus facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Pandanus conoideus
Scientific classification
Genus:	Pandanus
Species:	conoideus

Pandanus conoideus is a special plant from the Pandanus family, found in New Guinea. Its fruit is a popular food in places like Papua New Guinea and Papua, Indonesia. This fruit has a few names: it's called marita in some local languages in Papua New Guinea, and buah merah in Indonesian, which means "red fruit." People usually prepare the fruit by splitting it open, wrapping it in leaves, and cooking it in an earth oven. This makes it a traditional and tasty dish!

Fruits from the pandanus family are known for their very bright red color. This color shows that the fruits are full of something called beta carotene, which is good for you.

What Does Buah Merah Look Like?

Buah Merah plants are medium-sized trees, usually growing about 2 to 3.5 meters (6.5 to 11.5 feet) tall. They often grow in groups of 12 to 30 plants. These trees start producing fruit when they are about 1.5 to 5 years old, and they keep fruiting for about 3 to 4 months each time.

The main trunk of the tree is about 20 to 40 centimeters (8 to 16 inches) wide. It's brown with white spots and grows straight up. Each tree usually has 2 to 4 branches and a spiky surface. The roots go deep, from 0.2 to 3.5 meters (0.6 to 11.5 feet) long, and are also brown with white spots. They grow in clumps of many roots.

Leaves and Flowers

The leaves of the Buah Merah plant are long and strap-shaped, like a lance. They can be quite big, from 96 x 9.3 centimeters (38 x 3.7 inches) to 323 x 15 centimeters (127 x 6 inches). The edges of the leaves and their veins have thorns. The leaves grow directly from the stem, without a stalk, and are flexible, dark green, and have no smell.

The flowers of the Buah Merah look a bit like jackfruit flowers and are reddish. The fruit itself is made up of many small individual fruits, called drupes, that grow together. The whole fruit can be cylindrical or triangular with a rounded tip and a heart-shaped base. It can be quite long, from 30 to 110 centimeters (12 to 43 inches), and about 10 to 15 centimeters (4 to 6 inches) wide in the middle.

As the fruit ripens, its color changes from a light red to a brick-red. Different types of Buah Merah have different good qualities. For example, some types are known for having 5 to 10 fruits in a bunch, a soft inside, and being large. Some can even produce a lot of oil from their fruit.

How Buah Merah is Grown and Used

Buah Merah is often grown for food and for traditional medicine. In Indonesia, people often mix Buah Merah with other vegetables like chayote leaves, sweet potato leaves, or cabbage. Since Buah Merah has a lot of oil, it makes these dishes taste even better!

You can also make Buah Merah into a sauce. In Papua New Guinea, this red sauce is called marita sauce, and it's used like ketchup to add flavor to food. However, eating too much of this sauce can sometimes make it hard to sleep. Besides sauces, Buah Merah can be used to make ice cream, pudding, and drinks. After extracting oil from the fruit, the leftover pulp can even be used to make cakes and a sweet treat called dodol.

Other Uses

Beyond food, the sweet Buah Merah fruit is also used by people in Papua to attract and catch birds of paradise, tree cuscus (a type of possum), and ground rats. It's also mixed into food for cattle.

The plant is even used for building! Its roots can be made into ropes and floor mats, and its wood can be used to build walls.

Different Types of Buah Merah (Cultivars)

There are many different types, or cultivars, of Buah Merah. These types are usually identified by the size, color, and shape of their fruit. There are six main varieties of Buah Merah:

• buah merah panjang (long red)
• buah merah sedang (medium red)
• buah merah pendek (short red)
• buah merah cokelat (brown)
• buah merah kuning panjang (long yellow)
• buah merah kuning pendek (short yellow)

Within these main varieties, there are even more specific types that are commonly grown. Here are some of them:

Other types include Menjib Rumbai, Edewewits, Memeri, Monsrus, and Monsor, which are grown in the lowlands around Manokwari. Hityom, Himbiak, and Hibcau are grown in the highland areas of Minyambow District, Manokwari.

Nutrients in Buah Merah

Buah Merah is a great source of important nutrients, especially Vitamin A. It contains a lot of alfa-Carotene, beta-Carotene (which gives it its red color), and beta-Cryptoxanthin. It's also a good natural source of Vitamin E.

Oils in Buah Merah

The oil from Buah Merah is rich in different types of fats, which are important for your body. Here's a look at some of the main fatty acids found in the oil: