Korthalsia hispida

Korthalsia (kohr-tahl-SEE-ah) hispida (hihs-PEE-dah)
Selapon, Brunei Darussalam. Photo by Dr. John Dransfield, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew/Palmweb.
Scientific Classification
Genus: Korthalsia (kohr-tahl-SEE-ah) Species: hispida (hihs-PEE-dah)
Synonyms
None set.
Native Continent
Asia
Morphology
Habit: Clustering Leaf type: Pinnate
Culture
Survivability index
Common names
Wi Asas, Wi Semut (Ib.)

Habitat and Distribution

Borneo, Malaya, and Sumatera. Known from scattered localities throughout Brunei at

Kuala Belalong Field Studies Centre, Brunei Darussalam. Photo by Dr. John Dransfield, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew/Palmweb.

altitudes up to 300 m above sea level. Elsewhere throughout Borneo, though never common; very local in Sumatra and Peninsular Malaysia. K. hispida tends to occur in disturbed forest on steep slopes - e.g. on old land slips or along steep-sided river valleys in lowland and hill dipterocarp forest at altitudes up to 900 m above sea level.

Description

Clustering moderate rattan with stems to 30m branching in the canopy; stem without sheaths to 1.5 cm in diam., with sheaths to 2.5 cm in diam., internodes to 12 cm long. Sheaths bright green, with deciduous chocolate-coloured scales, sparse black spines to 2.5 cm and sparse black brittle spicules; ocrea very conspicuous to about 25 × 5 cm, diverging from the stem at an acute angle, the two edges inrolled, armed with black spines to 2.5 cm, abundant black brittle spicules and deciduous chocolate-coloured scales; ants usually abundant and very noisy. Leaf to 1.5 m including cirrus to 75 cm and petiole to 20 cm; leaflets up to 7 on each side of the rachis, very shortly stalked, to 25 × 10 cm, bright green on upper surface, whitish beneath. Inflorescences produced from topmost 2-4 nodes, crowded but not forming a head; bracts densely covered in chocolatecoloured scales and black spicules; rachillae few, large, to 20 × 1.5 cm, with conspicuous bracts. Fruit rounded to somewhat oblong, to 2.2 × 1.9 cm, shortly beaked, covered in 15 vertical rows of reddish-brown scales. Seed ovoid to 1.4 × 1.2 cm; endosperm homogeneous. Seedling leaf not known. (J. Dransfield, The Rattans of Brunei Darussalam. 1997)/Palmweb. Editing by edric.

Culture

Cold Hardiness Zone: 10b

Comments and Curiosities

Etymology: Specific epithet from the Latin, hispid; covered with stiff hair or bristles.