Calamus ornatus

Calamus (KAL-ah-muhs) ornatus (ohr-NAHT-uhs)
Lohan - Mamunt, 800 m, Malaysia. by Dr. John Dransfield, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew/Palmweb.
Scientific Classification
Genus: Calamus (KAL-ah-muhs) Species: ornatus (ohr-NAHT-uhs)
Synonyms
None set.
Native Continent
Asia
Morphology
Habit: Clustering Leaf type: Pinnate
Culture
Survivability index
Common names
Black Mountain Rattan

Habitat and Distribution

Borneo, Java, Malaya, Philippines, Sulawesi, Sumatra, and Thailand.

Poring, Sabah, Malaysia. by Dr. John Dransfield, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew/Palmweb.

Description

A very large rattan palm with thick stems to 60 m (200 ft.) long, native to lowland and mid-altitude rainforests from Sumatra and Java to the Philippines. The fruits are often used as a souring agent in cooking where it is native and is occasionally found in markets. The large, durable cane is of good quality and popular for the manufacture of furniture. (RPS.com)

Comments and Curiosities

There are two sub-species: 1.) Calamus ornatus var. ornatus; Throughout the lowlands of Brunei, but nowhere very common. Widespread in Borneo, Java, Sumatra, Peninsular Malaysia, S. Thailand, Philippines and Sulawesi, the forms in the last two areas distinct.

Robust clustering rattan climbing to great heights, to 50 m or more; stem without sheaths to 40 mm in diam., with rather prominent nodes and frequently slightly angular in cross section, with sheaths to 70 mm diam., internodes to 30 cm long. Sheaths dark green, armed with large triangular, flattened, yellowish-based black spines to 4 × 1 cm, and scattered dull brown scales; knee conspicuous; ocrea short, quickly tattering. Flagellum massive, to 10 m or more long, dark green, armed with short black, yellowish-based spines. Leaf subcirrate, very robust, to 4 m long including the petiole to 1 m (usually less; leaflets 20-30 on each side of the rachis, usually pale green, regularly arranged, the proximal to 50 × 5 cm increasing to 80 × 8 cm in mid leaf, decreasing to minute at the tip, c. 4 × 0.5 cm, forming a subcirrus, the leaflets drying pale green, not blackish, prickly on the upper surface of the veins near the tip and along the margins. Inflorescences to 8 m long including the long terminal flagellum, bearing 4-6 partial inflorescences to 80 cm, with robust reflexed rachillae in female, and more finely branched in the male. Ripe fruit ellipsoid, to 30 × 20 mm, tipped with a short beak and covered in 15 vertical rows of matt brown to black scales with paler bases. Seed to 20 × 8 mm, rather angular and grooved with one flattened lateral face; sarcotesta sour; endosperm homogeneous. Seedling leaf bifid, shiny green. (J. Dransfield, The Rattans of Brunei Darussalam. 1997)/Palmweb. Editing by edric.

C. ornatus var. ornatus is usually a plant of primary dipterocarp forest on better soils in the lowlands up to about 1000 m. Unlike C. scipionum, it does not seem to tolerate major disturbance. For differences between the two see under C. scipionum. (J. Dransfield, The Rattans of Brunei Darussalam. 1997)/Palmweb.

Common Name: Uwai Kiton (Dus.)

Etymology: From the Latin; ornamented, elegant.

Uses: Produces a good quality cane for furniture manufacture; however it does not command the highest prices because the cane is rather uneven in cross-section. Fruits are used to make a sambal.

2.) Calamus ornatus var. pulverulentus; Philippines.