Calamus ceratophorus

Calamus (KAL-ah-muhs) ceratophorus (sehr-ah-toh-FOR-uhs)
Photo by Dr. John Dransfield, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew/Palmweb.
Scientific Classification
Genus: Calamus (KAL-ah-muhs) Species: ceratophorus (sehr-ah-toh-FOR-uhs)
Synonyms
None set.
Native Continent
Please set a value for continent.
Morphology
Habit: Solitary Leaf type: Pinnate
Culture
Survivability index
Common names
may sung, ui song

Habitat and Distribution

South-central Vietnam in Khanh Hoa (Hon Ba N. R. and along new road from Nha Trang to Da Lat) in

Photo by Dr. John Dransfield, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew/Palmweb.

lowland or montane rain forest at 900-1488 m elevation (endemic).

Description

Stems solitary, climbing, to 30 m long and 3 cm diameter. Leaf sheaths green and yellow, mottled with reddish-brown hairs, with scattered to densely arranged (sometimes in short rows), yellowish, flattened, downward-pointing, to 2 cm long spines; ocreas short, not spiny; knees prominent; flagella present; petioles yellowish on lower surfaces; rachis to 1.5 m long with 21-30, linear-lanceolate leaflets per side, these regularly arranged, bristles; cirri absent. Inflorescences to 5 m long, flagellate; bracts tubular; flowering branches strongly recurved; fruits borne on conspicuous, slender stalks, ellipsoid, to 1.9 cm long and 0.8 cm diameter, yellowish; endosperm homogeneous. (T. Evans & K. Sengdala & B. Thammavong & O.V. Viengkham & J. Dransfield, A Synopsis of the Rattans (Arecaceae: Calamoideae) of Laos and Neighbouring Parts of Indochina. 2002)/Palmweb.

This species perhaps belongs in Section VIII of Beccari (1908) and thus section Macropodus of Furtado (1956). The neuter flower sits on a slender projection about 2 mm tall arising on one side of the strongly pedicellate involucrophore, making the female rachillae very distinctive within Indochina. They closely resemble those of the Sulawesi species Calamus pedicellatus Becc. ex Heyne (see Kramadibrata & Dransfield 1992), but that species has a short, erect inflorescence and different leaf sheath armature. The sheath and leaves of C. ceratophorus look rather similar to some C. poilanei so great caution should be used in identifying sterile material lacking climbing organs. The leaflet surfaces lack bristles in the type of C. ceratophorus and further material may show that this is a reliable diagnostic feature. Vu Van Dung & Le Huy Guang (1996) give detailed notes on the habitat and uses for this species which otherwise remains known only from the type. Without published information on the voucher specimens this important information remains of limited value to other users. (T. Evans & K. Sengdala & B. Thammavong & O.V. Viengkham & J. Dransfield, A Synopsis of the Rattans (Arecaceae: Calamoideae) of Laos and Neighbouring Parts of Indochina. 2002)/Palmweb.

Comments and Curiosities

Uses: Produces a cane used in furniture making.

Phenology: fruits April, July.

Conservation: Previously thought to be of high concern and known only from the original collection made in 1922 near Nha Trang; now know to be quite common on the eastern slopes of Da Lat plateau. (T. Evans & K. Sengdala & B. Thammavong & O.V. Viengkham & J. Dransfield, A Synopsis of the Rattans (Arecaceae: Calamoideae) of Laos and Neighbouring Parts of Indochina. 2002)/Palmweb.