Mat making with Pandanus tree leaves in India, in Arunachal Pradesh

From the archive record

Indian farmers weaves mat from Pandanus tree leaves in Arunachal Pradesh, India. An Indian man trims along the midribs to remove the sharp spines and the spinulose dentate margins are split off. Each individual leaf is then rolled round the left hand to open out the curled-in margins and then rolled round the hand and other leaves added until a fair sized circular roll one leaf in width is produced. Indian man untied the rolls and each leaf straightened out and he is doing plaiting of roll to beautiful green mat. Pandanus is a genus of monocots with some 750 accepted species. They are palm like dioecious trees and shrubs native to the Old World tropics and subtropics. Common names include pandan, screw palm and screw pine. They are classified in the order Pandanales, family Pandanaceae. So