Monier-Williams: A Sanskrit-English Dictionary (p. 309)
ketaka, m. the tree Pandanus odoratissimus MBh. R. Megh. &c. [309,1]; (ī) f. (g. gaurādi Gaṇar. 46) id. Gīt. Vet. Sāh. ŚivaP.

Tamil Lexicon, University of Madras (p. 1093)
kētakai: Fragrant screw-pine, l. sh., Pandanus odoratissimus

Tamil Lexicon, University of Madras (p. 1854)
tāḻai: 1. Fragrant screw-pine, l. sh., Pandanus odoratissimus; 2. Coconut tree; 3 spathe of coconut tree

Dymock, Warden, Hooper: Pharmacographia Indica (vol. III, pp. 535-537)
Pandanus odoratissimus, Pandanaceae
Fig.- Screw Pine, Kaldera bush (Eng.)
The Ketaka or DhĹŤli-pushpika "dust flower," whose golden spikes of flowers are said to atone for all its defects, is a great favourite with Vishnu and Krishna, and its flower-leaves are much worn by women in their hair. The poets also celebrate its perfume. In the play of Malati and Madhava, the latter says:-
The slowly rising breezes spread around
The grateful fragrance of the Ketaka.
A strophe quoted by B"htlink (Indische Spr che, i., 2083) says: -The drunken bee mistakes the golden flowers of the Ketaka for a lotus, and blinded by desire rushes into the flower and leaves his wings behind him. In the Gita Govinda, the bracts are likended to a lance fit to pierce the hearts of lovers, and the opening buds of the Jasmine are supposed to be impregnated by its pollen.
The defects of this plant are described as its crookedness, abundance of thorns (suchi-pushpa), and the desert places which it selects for habitation. The Ketaka is obnoxious to Siva, and the following story is told to account for his hatred of the tree: Gambling with Parvati he is said to have lost everything he possessed, even to down the clothes upon his back. In a fit of repentance he wandered away and was lost to his friends, who afterwards discovered that he had retired into a forest of Ketaka trees and had become an ascetic. Parvati, having assumed the form of a Bhil damsel with Ketaka in her hair, followed him into the forest, and having succeeded in making him break his vow afterwards upbraided him for inconstancy; whereupon he cursed the Ketaka and anyone who should offer its flowers at his shrine. This episode is the subject of a well-known Marathi laoni:-
Siva sāthi jhali bhilina
Jaga mohini Girja jhali udāsa.
Unhappy Girje, erst the world's ador'd
A gipsy maid now, seeks for Shiv her lord.
According to the Nighāntas, the plant has bitter, sweet, light, and pungent properties, and removes phlegmatic humours.
In Persia it is called Kādi, Gulkiri, and Gul-i-kabadi; the Arabs call it Kādi and Kadar. Rāzi recommends it in leprosy and small-pox; it is considered by Mahometan physicians to be cardiacal, cephalic, and aphrodisiacal. They prepare a 'sharab' by boiling the pounded stems in water, also a distilled water from the flowering tops and a perfumed oil. Mir Muhammad Husain states that the Hindus believe that if these preparations are used when small-pox is prevalent, the disease will be averted, or be of so mild a form as to be free from danger. The ashes of the wood are said to promote the healing of wounds, and the seeds to strengthen the heart and liver.
In India the perfumed oil is prepared by placing the floral bracts in sesamum oil and exposing it to the sun for forty days; fresh bracts are supplied and the old ones removed several times during this period. This oil is much valued as a perfume, and is used as a remedy for earache and suppuration of the meatus. The distilled water may be simple or compound; in the latter case the bracts are distillled with rose-water or sandalwood chips; it is used as a perfume and to flavour sherbets.
The leaves of several species of Pandanus are used for making mats and to polish lacquer-ware, and the fruit has been eaten in famine times. The edible species (P. edulis, Thonars), common in Madagascar and the islands of the South Pacific, does not occur in India. The aerial roots of the different species are much used to make coarse brushes in the East, a portion of the desired length being cut and the end beaten until the fibres separate.