Karuka
| Karuka | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Monocots |
| Order: | Pandanales |
| Family: | Pandanaceae |
| Genus: | Pandanus |
| Section: | Hombronia |
| Species: | P. julianettii
|
| Binomial name | |
| Pandanus julianettii | |
| Synonyms | |
| Nutritional value per 100 g | |
|---|---|
| Energy | 2,259–2,929 kJ (540–700 kcal) |
11.9-14.1 g | |
| Minerals | Quantity %DV† |
| Iron | 2328% 419 mg |
| Other constituents | Quantity |
| Water | 9% |
| Cholesterol | 0 |
| †Percentages estimated using US recommendations for adults,[3] except for potassium, which is estimated based on expert recommendation from the National Academies.[4] Source: [2] | |
| Nutritional value per 100 g | |
|---|---|
8.5 g | |
| Other constituents | Quantity |
| Cholesterol | 0 |
| †Percentages estimated using US recommendations for adults,[3] except for potassium, which is estimated based on expert recommendation from the National Academies.[4] Source: [2] | |
Pandanus julianettii, also called karuka, karuka nut, or Pandanus nut, is a species of tree in the Pandanaceae family and an important regional food crop.[5]
Names
The specific epithet "julianettii" honors naturalist Amedeo Giulianetti, who found the original type specimens.[1]
Karuka is a loanword from Tok Pisin.[6] Sometimes the tree is called 'karuga'[7] or 'karuka nut pandanus.'[8] The term 'karuka' can apply to both Pandanus julianettii and P. brosimos, though the latter is usually called 'wild karuka.'[9] Both species, as well as P. dubius, can be called 'pandanus nut.'[9] In addition to P. brosimos, 'wild karuka' can also refer to P. antaresensis,[8] P. iwen, and P. limbatus, but nuts from these trees are a much smaller part of the local diet.[9] In contexts where multiple karuka species are discussed, P. julianettii is sometimes termed 'planted karuka.'[8]
In New Guinea it goes by different names among each of the Papuan peoples.[5] In the Ankave language it is xweebo.[5] It is yase in the Baruya language.[5] The Huli language word is anga, and it is also anga in the Duna language.[5][2] In Kewa language it is aga,[5][2] but it is unclear of this is in Erave (South Kewa), East Kewa, Pasuma (West Kewa), and/or the Kewa pandanus language. The plant is called ama in the Wiru language.[2][5] In the Pole language it's called maisene.[5][2] It goes by ank in Angal language.[5][2] The Imbongu language word is amo.[5][2]
Description
The species was originally described by Ugolino Martelli from only a few drupes in the collections of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew[1] He was hesitant to describe it as a new species from only that, but the characteristics we so salient he published his description.[1]
The tree is dioecious (individual plants either have male flowers of female ones),[5] with male trees uncommon compared to females.[2] It reaches 10-30 m high with a trunk of 30 cm diameter and supported by buttress roots.[5] The top of the tree sometimes branches, producing three or four crowns of leaves.[2] Each crown will produce a single cluster of nuts, typically once every other season.[2] Production is affected by the seasonality of local rainfall.[9]
Leaves spiral up the trunk in opposite pairs.[5][2] The large leathery leaves are 3-4 m long[2] and 8-12 cm wide.[5] The apex of the leaf is attenuate and doubly-pleated, with prickles pointing up at the tip.[5]
The inflorescence on male trees is a densely-branched spadix with a dozen long spikes, each containing many staminate phalanges.[5] In each phalange is a column 3 mm long topped by up to 9 subsessile anthers.[5] The male flowers are white.[2]
On female trees, the inflorescence is a single ellipsoid or ovoid syncarp, or fruiting head, with off-white bracts.[5] The tree stops making leaves when new fruit is growing.[2] The syncarp has up to a thousand densely-packed single-celled carpels that later turn into drupes.[5][2]
The clavate, pentagonal drupes measure up to 12 cm long and have a sharpened base,[1] but typically are 9×1.5 cm.[5] Each cluster contains about 1000 nuts.[2] The endocarp is bony and thin,[5] 5½ cm long, with rounded edges about 1½ cm wide.[1] The seed-bearing locule is around 4 cm long.[1] The core of the mature head (mesocarp) has an appearance like honeycomb and is spongy[5] and pink.[2] The top of the mesocarp is fibrous, from 3 cm long and up.[1] Though Martelli did not have a complete syncarp, he knew the cluster of fruit must be large, estimating at least 30 cm in diameter.[1] He was correct, as the fruiting cluster is typically 15 to 30 cm in diameter.[2] A mature head and stalk weigh up to 16 kg,[5] but average 6 kg.[2]
It most closely resembles P. utilissimus, which is found the Philippines.[1] People also harvest and eat nuts of P. antaresensis, P. brosimos, P. dubius, P. iwen, and P. limbatus, and P. odoratissima[9]
There are up to 35 cultivated varieties of karuka, many with different kernel shapes. At least two varieties are edible raw.[2]
Distribution
Giulianetti's type specimens were collected from Vanapa, British New Guinea[1] (now southern Papua New Guinea). The tree can be found cultivated or wild on New Guinea, both in PNG and Papua province.[5][2] Wild trees are found on the Huon Peninsula and in the highlands of New Guinea's central cordillera.[5][9] In Papua New Guinea, the tree is most commonly grown in Southern Highlands, Western Highlands, Eastern Highlands, Enga, and Chimbu Provinces, and it is found in all provinves on the mainland except East Sepik.[8] It grows between 1,300 and 3,300 m in elevation in areas that get 2-5 m mean annual precipitation.[5][9] It grows in both dry and wet soils,[5][9] but prefers good soil fertility.[2] Trees will grow in clumped groups of 5 to 10 individuals per hectare.[9]
Ecology
Karuka produces fruit around February, with an occasional secondary season in July.[2] Typically each branch will only flower every other year.[2] The natural pollination syndrome is unknown, but the flowers can be pollinated by humans.[9] Seed dispersal is by humans, birds, and other animals.[9]
Fungal pests of karuka include leaf spot, diffuse leaf spot, black leaf mould (Lembosia pandani), sooty mold (Meliola juttingii), and fungus on seeds (Macrophoma pandani).[2] The leaf moulds do not do much damage.[2] The sooty mould seems to grow on insect frass.[2] The black leaf mold only affects some varieties.[2]
The bacteria Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. carotovorum can also cause bacterial soft rot and necrosis on the leaves, but causes more severe damage to the related species Pandanus conoideus.[7]
Longhorn grasshoppers are serious insect pests.[2] Segestes gracilis and Segestidea montana eat the leaves and can sometimes kill trees.[2] Growers will stuff leaves and grass in between the leaves of the crown to keep insects out.[2] An unknown species of black grub will burrow into the cluster and eat the spongy core, causing the nuts to turn black and the whole bunch to fall off the tree.[2] Woodboring beetles sometimes attack the prop root of the tree.[2]
Possums also eat the nuts, and growers will put platforms on the trunks of trees to keep them out.[2]
Harvested nuts are often beset by rats and cockroaches.[2] Hanging nuts in the smoky areas above fires can prevent this, but after a while the taste of the nuts is affected.[2]
Use by humans
On New Guinea karuka is cultivated crop,[5] and has been used as a major food source since nearly 31,000 years ago in the Pleistocene.[6] In PNG nearly 2 million people (almost half the rural population) live in regions where karuka is commonly eaten.[8] There is high demand for it in the New Guinea Highlands: Entire households (including pigs) will move from the valleys to higher elevations at harvest time,[9] often for several weeks.[10] However trade is small-scale and not commercial.[9] Each household will average 12 to 176 trees.[10] Local marketplaces typically will have 12 to 50 fruits for sale.[10] With some coordination between state agencies and private sector, karuka could have export market access.[8] The crop has a medium potential for large-scale sustainable commercialization in the region, but care must be taken in the sensitive local environments to expanded agriculture.[9] Diets of tree owners could also be negatively influenced by rapid commercialization.[9]
The endosperm, a white kernel, is eaten raw, roasted, smoked,[5] or mumued.[2] Nuts that aren't immediately eaten are typically sun-dried for storage.[2] The karuka kernels have a sweet, coconut taste.[5] Smoked or cooked karuka is either stored in the rafters or sold at local marketplaces.[5] The uncooked clusters can also be stored for months buried in waterlogged earth.[5][2] It is a regional staple food and one of the few plants in the area with a high protein content.[5] The spongy core of the multiple fruit cluster can also be cooked and eaten after the nuts are removed.[5][2]
Trunks and buttress roots are used for building.[5] The leaves are used for bush shelters.[5]
Karuka can be cultivated by cutting a mature branch and replanting it (vegetative propagation).[2] Suckers can also be replanted.[2] Nurseries also plant seeds directly.[2] New nuts will grow when a tree is at least five or six years old, and can keep producing for up to fifty years.[2]
In Upper Karint near Pingirip karukas are planted as boundary lines between garden plots.[2]
In culture
In PNG's Central Province Premier Rugby League the team for Goilala District is called the Karukas.[11]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Martelli, Ugolino (December 1907). Martelli, Ugolino (ed.). "Pandanus Nuove Specie Descritte Manipolo II" (PNG). Webbia, Raccolta di Scritti Botanici (in Italian). 2. Firenze: Istituto botanico dell'Università di Firenze: 433. doi:10.1080/00837792.1907.10803460. ISSN 2169-4060. OCLC 899525984. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at French, Bruce R. (1982). Growing food in the Southern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea (PDF). AFTSEMU (Agricultural Field Trials, Surveys, Evaluation and Monitoring Unit) of the World Bank funded project in the Southern Highlands of Papua New Guinea. pp. 64–71. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
- ^ a b United States Food and Drug Administration (2024). "Daily Value on the Nutrition and Supplement Facts Labels". Retrieved 2024-03-28.
- ^ a b National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; Health and Medicine Division; Food and Nutrition Board; Committee to Review the Dietary Reference Intakes for Sodium and Potassium (2019). Oria, Maria; Harrison, Meghan; Stallings, Virginia A. (eds.). Dietary Reference Intakes for Sodium and Potassium. The National Academies Collection: Reports funded by National Institutes of Health. Washington, DC: National Academies Press (US). ISBN 978-0-309-48834-1. PMID 30844154.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj Lim, Tong Kwee (2012). "Pandanus julianettii". Edible Medicinal And Non-Medicinal Plants (PDF). Vol. 4. Springer. pp. 128–130. doi:10.1007/978-94-007-4053-2_17. ISBN 978-94-007-4053-2. OCLC 822591349. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
- ^ a b Denham, Tim (July 2007). "Exploiting diversity: plant exploitation and occupation in the interior of New Guinea during the Pleistocene" (PDF). Archaeology in Oceania. 42 (2): 41–48. doi:10.1002/j.1834-4453.2007.tb00015.x. ISSN 1834-4453. OCLC 696476493. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
- ^ a b Tomlinson, D. L. (January 1988). "A Leaf and Fruit Disease of Pandanus conoideus caused by Erwinia carotovora subsp. carotovora in Papua New Guinea". Journal of Phytopathology. 121 (1). Berlin and Hamburg: Paul Parey Scientific Publishers: 19–25. doi:10.1111/j.1439-0434.1988.tb00948.x. ISSN 0931-1785. OCLC 4660013776.
{{cite journal}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help) - ^ a b c d e f Quartermain, Alan R.; Tomi, Barbara, eds. (2010). Fruits and Nuts: Research and Development Issues in Papua New Guinea Papers presented at the Fruits and Nuts Workshop held at the IATP Farmer Training Centre, University of Natural Resource and Environment (formerly University of Vudal) from 11–13 October 2005 (PDF). Workshop Proceedings. Vol. 9. Lae, Papua New Guinea: National Agricultural Research Institute. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Bourke, Richard Michael. "Edible indigenous nuts in Papua New Guinea". In Stevens, M.L.; Bourke, Richard Michael; Evans, Barry R. (eds.). South Pacific Indigenous Nuts. Proceedings of a workshop held from 31 October to 4 November 1994 at Le Lagon Resort, Port Vila, Vanuatu (PDF). Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research Proceedings. Vol. 69. Canberra: Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research. pp. 45–55. ISBN 1 86320 485 7. OCLC 38390455. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
- ^ a b c Bourke, Richard Michael (May 1988). Taim hangre: variation in subsistence food supply in the Papua New Guinea highlands (PDF). Australian National University. OCLC 224338489. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
- ^ Pangkatana, John (September 21, 2018). "Karukas to be put to acid test in Central playoffs The Goilala Karukas are set to move into high gear" (HTML). Post Courier Online (in Englush). Retrieved 4 October 2018.
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Category:Pandanus Category:Plants described in 1907 Category:Trees of New Guinea Category:Edible nuts and seeds Category:Fruits originating in Asia Category:Tropical fruit Category:Tropical agriculture Category:Non-timber forest products