Pandanus tectorius grows natively from the Philippines through the Pacific Ocean to Hawaii. It is found in parts of Malesia (the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Java, the Lesser Sunda Islands, the Maluku Islands and the Philippines), throughout Papuasia, and in most of the tropical Pacific. In Australia, it is native to an area from Port Macquarie in New South Wales to northern Queensland. Both the US and the Hawaiian Islands recognize only one indigenous species, P. tectorius. Its exact native range is unknown due to extensive cultivation; it may be an early Polynesian introduction to many of the more isolated Pacific islands on which it occurs. These islands include Micronesia and Melanesia. In Hawaii, P. tectorius is found natively on all the main islands except Kahoʻolawe, and it is known to have predated human settlement, based on seed and pollen samples taken from Kauai's Makauwahi Cave.
