Calamus pygmaeus
Calamus (KAL-ah-muhs) pygmaeus (pig-MEH-uhs) | |||||||
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Gunung Matang, Malaysia. Photo by Dr. John Dransfield, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew/Palmweb. | |||||||
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Contents
Habitat and Distribution
India. Known with certainty only from the summit of G Matang (G Serapi) near Kuching; sterile plants observed on G Gading may also belong here. Endemic. Tropical Moist Forest.Description
Slender dwarf clustering rattan to about 30 cm tall, spreading by new plantlets borne at the tips of the inflorescences', stem without sheaths c. 6 mm in diam., with sheaths to 10 mm in diam., internodes about 5 cm long. Sheath dull brown, bearing rather few groups of horizontal or slightly reflexed triangular spines to 6 mm and abundant brown indumentum between the spines; knee absent; ocrea short, membranous, soon tattering. Flagellum, as distinct from inflorescences, absent. Leaf ecirrate to c. 75 cm long including the petiole 15 - 30 cm; petiole armed with whorls of horizontal spines near the base, unarmed distally; rachis unarmed (?always); leaflets 20 - 30 on each side of the rachis, regularly arranged, the largest to 15 x 1 cm, armed with short bristles on the upper surface, ± unarmed beneath. Inflorescences very slender, whip-like, to 2 m long, rooting at their tips and developing into new plantlets; partial inflorescences up to about 5, distant, very sparsely branched and few-flowered, rarely exceeding 2.5 cm. Mature fruit ± rounded, about 7.5 mm in diam., with a short beak, and covered in 14 vertical rows of straw-coloured, brown margined scales. Seed slightly flattened and irregularly shallowly pitted, about 5 mm in diam.; endosperm homogeneous. Seedling leaf not known. (J. Dransfield, The Rattans of Sarawak. 1992)/Palmweb. Editing by edric.
Culture
Comments and Curiosities
External Links
References
Phonetic spelling of Latin names by edric.
Special thanks to Geoff Stein, (Palmbob) for his hundreds of photos.
Special thanks to Palmweb.org, Dr. John Dransfield, Dr. Bill Baker & team, for their volumes of information and photos.
Glossary of Palm Terms; Based on the glossary in Dransfield, J., N.W. Uhl, C.B. Asmussen-Lange, W.J. Baker, M.M. Harley & C.E. Lewis. 2008. Genera Palmarum - Evolution and Classification of the Palms. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. All images copyright of the artists and photographers (see images for credits).
J. Dransfield, The Rattans of Sarawak. 1992
Many Special Thanks to Ed Vaile for his long hours of tireless editing and numerous contributions.