Rattan, also spelled ratan (from Malay: rotan), is the name for roughly 600 species of Old World climbing palms belonging to subfamily Calamoideae. The greatest diversity of rattan palm species and genera are in the closed-canopy old-growth tropical forests of Southeast Asia, though they can also be found in other parts of tropical Asia and Africa. Most rattan palms are ecologically considered lianas due to their climbing habits, unlike other palm species. A few species also have tree-like or shrub-like habits.
Around 20% of rattan palm species are economically important and are traditionally used in Southeast Asia in producing wickerwork furniture, baskets, canes, woven mats, cordage, and other handicrafts. Rattan canes are one of the world's most valuable non-timber forest products. Some species of rattan also have edible scaly fruit and heart of palm. Despite increasing attempts in the last 30 years at commercial cultivation, almost all rattan products still come from wild-harvested plants. Rattan supplies are now rapidly threatened due to deforestation and overexploitation. Rattan were also historically known as Manila cane or Malacca cane, based on their trade origins, as well as numerous other trade names for individual species.Johnson, Dennis V. (2004): Rattan Glossary: And Compendium Glossary with Emphasis on Africa. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, p. 22.
Description
Most rattan palms are classified ecologically as lianas because most mature rattan palms have a vine-like habit, scrambling through and over other vegetation. However, they are different from true woody lianas in several ways. Because rattans are palms, they do not branch and they rarely develop new root structures upon contact of the stem with soil. They are monocots, and thus, do not exhibit secondary growth. This means the diameter of the rattan stem is always constant: juvenile rattan palms have the same width as when adult, usually around in diameter, with long internodes between the leaves. This also means juvenile rattan palms are rigid enough to remain free-standing, unlike true lianas which always need structural support, even when young. Many rattans also have spines which act as hooks to aid climbing over other plants, and to deter herbivores. The spines also give rattans the ability to climb wide-diameter trees, unlike other vines which use tendrils or twining which can only climb narrower supports. Rattans have been known to grow up to hundreds of metres long.
A few species of rattans are non-climbing. These range from free-standing tree-like species (like Calamus dumetosa) to acaulescent shrub-like species with short subterranean stems (like Calamus pygmaeus).
Rattans can also be solitary (single-stemmed), clustering (clump-forming), or both. Solitary rattan species grow into a single stem. Clustering rattan, on the other hand, develop clumps of up to 50 stems via suckers, similar to bamboo and bananas. These clusters can produce new stems continually as individual stems die. The impact of harvesting is much greater in solitary species, since the whole plant dies when harvested. An example of a commercially important single-stemmed species is Calamus manan. Clustering species, on the other hand, have more potential to become sustainable if the rate of harvesting does not exceed the rate of stem replacement via vegetative reproduction.
Rattans display two types of flowering: hapaxanthy and pleonanthy. All the species of the genera Korthalsia, Laccosperma, Plectocomia, Plectocomiopsis, and Myrialepis are hapaxanthic; as well as a few species of Calamus. This means they only flower and fruit once then die. All other rattan species are pleonanthic, being able to flower and fruit continually. Most commercially harvested species are pleonanthic, because hapaxanthic rattans tend to have soft piths making them unsuitable for bending.
Taxonomy
Calamoideae includes tree palms such as Raffia (raphia) and Metroxylon (sago palm) and shrub palms such as Salacca (salak) (Uhl & Dransfield 1987 Genera Palmarum). The climbing habit in palms is not restricted to Calamoideae, but has also evolved in three other evolutionary lines—tribes Cocoseae (Desmoncus with c. 7–10 species in the New World tropics) and Areceae (Dypsis scandens in Madagascar) in subfamily Arecoideae, and tribe Hyophorbeae (climbing species of the large genus Chamaedorea in Central America) in subfamily Ceroxyloideae. They do not have spinose stems and climb by means of their reflexed terminal leaflets. Of these only Desmoncus spp. furnish stems of sufficiently good quality to be used as rattan cane substitutes.
There are 13 different genera of rattans that include around 600 species. Some of the species in these "rattan genera" have a different habit and do not climb, they are shrubby palms of the forest undergrowth; nevertheless they are close relatives to species that are climbers and they are hence included in the same genera. The largest rattan genus is Calamus, distributed in Asia except for one species represented in Africa. From the remaining rattan genera, Korthalsia, Plectocomia, Plectocomiopsis, and Myrialepis are centered in Southeast Asia with outliers eastwards and northwards;Terry C.H. Sunderland and John Dransfield. Species Profiles. Ratans. http://www.fao.org/docrep/003/y2783e/y2783e05.htm and three are endemic to Africa: Laccosperma (syn. Ancistrophyllum), Eremospatha and Oncocalamus.
The rattan genera and their distribution (Uhl & Dransfield 1987 Genera Palmarum, Dransfield 1992):
GenusNumber of species Distribution Calamus L.c. 480Tropical Africa, India and Sri Lanka, China, south and east to Fiji, Vanuatu and eastern Australia (synonyms including Daemonorops) Calospatha Becc.–Synonym of Calamus Ceratolobus Bl.–Synonym of Calamus Eremospatha (Mann & Wendl.) Wendl.10Humid tropical Africa Korthalsia Bl.c. 26Indo-China and Burma to New Guinea Laccosperma (Mann & Wendl.) Drude5Humid tropical Africa Myrialepis Becc.1Indo-China, Thailand, Burma, Peninsular Malaysia and Sumatra Oncocalamus (Wendl.) Wendl.4Humid tropical Africa Plectocomia Mart.c. 16Himalayas and south China to western Malaysia Plectocomiopsis Becc.c. 5Laos, Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Borneo, Sumatra Retispatha J. Dransf.–Synonym of Calamus
In Uhl & Dransfield (1987 Genera Palmarum,Uhl, N.W. & Dransfield, J., 1987. Genera palmarum: a classification of palms based on the work of H.E.Moore Jr. pp 610. The International Palm Society & the Bailey Hortorium, Kansas. 2ºed. 2008), and also Dransfield & Manokaran (1993Dransfield, J. & Manokaran, N. (eds), 1993. Rattans. PROSEA volume 6. Pudoc, Wageningen. pp 137.), a great deal of basic introductory information is available.
Available rattan floras and monographs by region (2002):
RegionReference Peninsular Malaysia Dransfield, 1979Dransfield, J., 1979. A Manual of the Rattans of the Malay Peninsula. Malayan Forest Records No. 29. Forestry Department. Malaysia. Sabah Dransfield, 1984Dransfield, J., 1984. The rattans of Sabah. Sabah Forest Record No. 13. Forestry Department, Malaysia. Sarawak Dransfield, 1992aDransfield, J., 1992a. The Rattans of Sarawak. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Sarawak Forest Department. Brunei Dransfield, 1998Dransfield, J., 1998. The rattans of Brunei Darussalam. Forestry Department, Brunei Darussalam and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, UK. Sri Lanka de Zoysa & Vivekanandan, 1994De Zoysa, N. & K. Vivekenandan, 1994. Rattans of Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka Forest Department. Batteramulla. India (general) Basu, 1992Basu, S.K., 1992. Rattan (canes) in India: a monographic revision. Rattan Information Centre. Kuala Lumpur. India (Western Ghats) Renuka, 1992Renuka, C., 1992. Rattans of the Western Ghats: A Taxonomic Manual. Kerala Forest Research Institute, India. India (south) Lakshmana, 1993Lakshmana, A.C., 1993. The rattans of South India. Evergreen Publishers. Bangalore. India. Andaman and Nicobar Islands Renuka, 1995Renuka, C., 1995. A manual of the rattans of the Andaman and Nicobar islands. Kerala Forest Research Institute, India. Bangladesh Alam, 1990Alam, M.K., 1990. The rattans of Bangladesh. Bangladesh Forest Research Institute. Dhaka. Papua New Guinea Johns & Taurereko, 1989a,Johns, R. & R. Taurereko, 1989a. A preliminary checklist of the collections of Calamus and Daemonorops from the Papuan region. Rattan Research Report 1989/2. 1989bJohns, R. & R. Taurereko, 1989b. A guide to the collection and description of Calamus (Palmae) from Papuasia. Rattan Research Report 1989/3 (preliminary notes only) Irian Jaya Currently (2002) under study at Kew (Baker & Dransfield) Indonesia Dransfield and Mogea [to 2002 in prep.]; more field work needed Laos Currently (2002) in prep. (Evans) Thailand Hodel, 1998Hodel, D., 1998. The palms and cycads of Thailand. Allen Press. Kansas. USA. Africa Currently (2002) in prep. (Sunderland)
Uses by taxon.
The major commercial species of rattan canes as identified for Asia by Dransfield and Manokaran (1993) and for Africa, by Tuley (1995) and Sunderland (1999) (Desmoncus not treated here):
SpeciesDistributionConservation statusCalamus caesius Bl.Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Borneo, Philippines and Thailand. Also introduced to China and south Pacific for plantingUnknownCalamus egregius Burr.Endemic to Hainan island, China, but introduced to southern China for cultivationUnknownCalamus exilis GriffithPeninsular Malaysia and SumatraNot threatenedCalamus javensis Bl.Widespread in Southeast AsiaNot threatenedCalamus manan Miq.Peninsular Malaysia and SumatraThreatenedCalamus merrillii Becc.PhilippinesThreatenedCalamus mindorensis Becc.PhilippinesUnknownCalamus optimus Becc.Borneo and Sumatra. Cultivated in KalimantanUnknownCalamus ornatus Bl. Thailand, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Sulawesi, to the Philippines UnknownCalamus ovoideus Thwaites ex TrimenWestern Sri LankaThreatenedCalamus palustris GriffithBurma, southern China, to Malaysia and the Andaman IslandsUnknownCalamus pogonacanthus Becc. ex WinklerBorneoUnknownCalamus scipionum LoureiroBurma, Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Borneo to PalawanUnknownCalamus simplicifolius WeiEndemic to Hainan island, China, but introduced to southern China for cultivationUnknownCalamus subinermis (eddl. ex Becc.Sabah, Sarawak, East Kalimantan and PalawanUnknownCalamus tetradactylus HanceSouthern China. Introduced to MalaysiaUnknownCalamus trachycoleus Becc.South and Central Kalimantan. Introduced into Malaysia for cultivationNot threatenedCalamus tumidus FurtadoPeninsular Malaysia and SumatraUnknownCalamus wailong Pei & ChenSouthern ChinaUnknownCalamus zollingeri Becc.Sulawesi and the MoluccasUnknownCalamus jenkinsianus Griff.Southern ChinaUnknownCalamus validus W.J.BakerIndonesia, Sulawesi and the MoluccasUnknownCalamus crinitus (Blume) Miq.Peninsula Malaysia and BorneoUnknownEremospatha macrocarpa (Mann & Wendl.) Mann & Wendl.Tropical Africa from Sierra Leone to Angola Not threatenedEremospatha haullevilleana de Wild.Congo Basin to East Africa-Laccosperma robustum (Burr.) J. Dransf.Cameroon to Congo Basin-Laccosperma secundiflorum (P. Beauv.) Mann & Wendl.Tropical Africa from Sierra Leone to AngolaNot threatened
Utilized Calamus species canes:Rattan Glossary. Appendix III. http://www.fao.org/docrep/006/Y5232E/y5232e07.htm#P5059_100907 In: RATTAN glossary and Compendium glossary with emphasis on Africa. NON-WOOD FOREST PRODUCTS 16. FAO - Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations