Kewra: A 24-Million-Year-Old Living Fossil

The fragrant plant behind your biryani is older than the Himalaya itself. A new fossil study just proved it.

MCQ Questions

GenSci0028

Kewra

The fragrant plant behind your biryani is a living survivor from India’s ancient tropical forests.

85–66 million years ago

Pandanus spreads widely

Fossil evidence from Europe and North America shows Kewra’s ancestors once spread across the Northern Hemisphere.

~34 million years ago

Global cooling, India as refuge

As the climate cools, Pandanus vanishes from most regions but survives in India’s tropical climate.

~24 million years ago

Assam fossil leaves form

Four fossil leaves later found in Assam’s Makum Coalfield date to this period. They closely match modern Kewra leaves.

15 July 2026

Study published

BSIP Lucknow scientists publish their findings in Geobios, confirming Kewra’s deep evolutionary history in India.

Two different numbers: the actual fossil found is about 24 million years old. The wider Pandanus lineage itself goes back much further, to 85-66 million years ago, in a different part of the world. Don’t conflate the two figures.

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Must Know

• Kewra, also called Kevda, comes from the plant Pandanus odoratissimus, commonly known as the screwpine.
• On 15 July 2026, PIB reported a new fossil study showing Kewra’s plant family has survived in India for at least 24 million years.
• Scientists from the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences (BSIP), Lucknow, an autonomous institute under the Department of Science and Technology, led the study.
• Researchers Harshita Bhatia and Gaurav Srivastava found four well-preserved fossil leaves, from the Tikak Parbat Formation of the Makum Coalfield, in Assam.
• The fossils, dated to about 24 million years old, closely matched modern Kewra leaves. They share long sword-shaped leaves, parallel veins, and marginal prickles.
• The findings were published in the scientific journal Geobios.

Good to Know

• Fossil evidence from Europe and North America shows Pandanus ancestors were once widespread across the Northern Hemisphere, dating back 85-66 million years.
• As global climates cooled after about 34 million years ago, Pandanus disappeared from many regions, and became restricted to the tropics.
• India served as a refuge, where this ancient plant lineage survived, even as it vanished elsewhere.
• In India, Kewra grows abundantly along the coasts of Odisha and Tamil Nadu.
• Kewra essence, distilled from its flowers, flavours traditional sweets and dishes, including Ras Malai, Gulab Jamun, and biryani.
• It is also used in religious ceremonies, traditional perfumery, and Ayurvedic medicine.

Test Yourself

Please wait…

1. Kewra essence comes from which plant, commonly known as the screwpine?

Pandanus odoratissimus

Cinnamomum verum

Santalum album

Michelia champaca

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Great to Know

• Don’t conflate two different numbers here. The actual fossil found is about 24 million years old. The wider Pandanus lineage itself goes back much further, to 85-66 million years ago, in a different part of the world.
• India’s specific role here is as a “refuge,” not just a place where an old plant happens to grow. The plant family vanished from most of the world after global cooling, but survived specifically in India’s tropical climate.
• This discovery reframes Kewra. It is not a recent addition to Indian vegetation, grown only for its culinary fragrance. It is a genuine living survivor from India’s ancient tropical forests, confirmed through direct fossil evidence.

Current Affairs

• 15 July 2026: PIB reported that BSIP Lucknow’s fossil study confirmed Kewra’s deep evolutionary history in India. It is not a recent component of Indian vegetation. (Source: PIB)
• 15 July 2026: The study links older Pandanus fossil records from Europe and North America (85-66 million years ago) with younger records from tropical Asia and Australia. This fills a real gap in the plant family’s evolutionary history. (Source: PIB)