Calamus viminalis

Calamus (KAL-ah-muhs) viminalis (vihm-ee-NAHL-iss)
Indonesia, Jáva, Velké Sundy.
Scientific Classification
Genus: Calamus (KAL-ah-muhs) Species: viminalis (vihm-ee-NAHL-iss)
Synonyms
None set.
Native Continent
Asia
Morphology
Habit: Clustering Leaf type: Pinnate
Culture
Survivability index
Common names
wai ton, wai nyair, wai na, wai khom, wai namhang, wai keethao, wai nang, wai tiudeet, wai namleuang (Lao Loum), rebou (Alak), blong chang (Khamu), katengparua (Hmong), wai ngamkhao, wai namhang, wai sambai, wai mon, wai som (Thailand). Bangla/Vernacular Name: Khorkoijja bet, Karak bet. Tribal Name: Karath (Chakma), Riama (Murang), Hraika bathai/Hrbichuk (Tripura).

Habitat and Distribution

India (South, North-central, North-east, Andaman and Nicobar Islands), Bangladesh, Myanmar,

Near Lak Sao, Laos. Photo by Dr. John Dransfield, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew/Palmweb.

Thailand (all parts), Laos (all parts), Vietnam (Cochinchina and Central Annam), Cambodia, Peninsular Malaysia, Indonesia (Java and Bali). Also probably China (North-west and South Yunnan). Scrub, village margins, forest edge and (locally) inside tropical moist forest, 0 - 600 m. In secondary forests of Chittagong, Chittagong Hill tracts, Cox's Bazar and Sylhet. Lowland rain forests or deciduous forests, persisting in cleared areas and often present near villages, sometimes planted; below 600 m. Yunnan (Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia (Bali, Java, Sumatra), Laos, Malaysia (Peninsular), Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam).

Description

A climbing palm, has pale yellow (in its native state) fruits, about 0.5 cm across, resembling small, pointed cones, arranged in a raceme. These are known as “canella berries” in the potpourri trade. This palm also yields “palm spirals,” either as a tubular spiral or pyramidal spiral, the individual stems 0.5-1 cm wide, the entire spirals 5-10 cm high. Editing by edric.

A large, climbing rottan; clustering to form dense clumps. Leaves 1.5-2m long; leaflets distinctly grouped in fasicles, spinulose beneath; rachis and petiole with scattered short hooked spines. Spadix very long, covered with long spathes, Fruits: globose.

Stems clustered, climbing or often forming thickets, to 35 m, to 4 cm in diam. Leaf sheaths green with dense covering of grayish or brownish hairs, with scattered, greenish or brownish, triangular, flattened spines to 4.5 cm; ocreas present; knees present; flagella to 5 m; rachis to 1.3 m with 32-55 lanceolate pinnae per side, these gray-green, distinctly clustered and spreading in different planes, apical ones usually smaller than others; middle pinnae 15-35 cm, 1-1.5 cm wide at mid-point, adaxial and abaxial main vein prominently bristly; cirri absent. Inflorescences to 3 m, flagellate; inflorescence bracts tubular. Fruits whitish or yellowish, globose, to 1 cm in diam., sometimes borne in pairs.

Culture

Cold Hardiness Zone: 10a

Comments and Curiosities

Uses: The cane is of moderate quality, widely used for handicrafts and sometimes traded. Shoot edible, fruit sometimes sold for food; ripe fruit pulps are edible (Bawm, Chakma, Marma and Tripura). Various tools and crafts are prepared by all the tribes. This species provides a widely used cane for basketry and furniture-making, and the palm heart and fruits are eaten.

Conservation: Of no conservation concern, since it is favoured by forest loss and tolerates harvesting well.