Calamus concinnus
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 Florida. Photo by Kyle Wicomb, edric. | |||||||
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Contents
Habitat and Distribution
Malaya, Myanmar, Thailand. Perlis, Kedah(Langkawi), Perak. S. Thailand, Burma. Myanmar (Tanintharyi),
Description
A non-climbing rattan from coastal forests on the Malay Peninsula, with a creeping or upright stem to 6 m (13 ft.) tall and long, 8 cm diameter, arching leaves with grouped and slightly fanned leaflets. Stems clustered, short and subterranean, leaf sheaths open green, with scattered, yellowish, triangular, to 4-cm long spines; ocreas present, elongate to 75 cm long, tattering; Knees absent; flagella absent; leaf rachis to 3.5 m long with 35-65 lanceolate leaflets per side, these are irregularly arranged in groups of 2-7; cerri absent, inflorescence to 2 m long, not flagellate; bracts tubular, tatering at apices; fruits globose to 0.8 cm diameter, yellowish. Great for all those who want to try growing a rattan palm but find the climbing habit a nuisance. Also, it does not grow any cirri or flagella, those nasty, whiplike organs many rattan palms produce to help them climb and that are perfect to get tangled up in. Due to its habitat it is more resistant to coastal and seasonally dry conditions than most rattans. The roots have been used as an herb, since ancient times. Editing by edric.
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Very short, perhaps rarely climbing, rattan. Stem diameter not known, but apparently forming a large rosette. Leaf sheaths apparently open throughout length, heavily armed with large straw-coloured flat, triangular spines to 2.5 cm long by 1 cm wide, occasionally longer and narrower. Knee absent. Ocrea tattering, somewhat fibrous. Flagellum absent. Petiole at least 50 cm long, armed with spines longer than those of the leaf sheath, reaching 5 cm in length. Leaflets numerous, total on each side of rachis not known, grouped in Ts to 5's, sometimes almost regular, drying pale dull green, armed with pale bristles on margins and upper side of main vein and lower surface of 3 veins, the longest to about 50 cm long by 4 cm wide. Inflorescences male and female superficially similar but the male more highly branched, apparently shorter than the leaves with perhaps 4-5 partial inflorescences. Bracts conspicuous, tattering, with reflexed triangular spines to 3 cm long by 1 cm wide. Partial inflorescence in female to 25 cm long with rachillae to 10 cm long; in male to 15 cm long with rachillae to 2.5 cm. Ripe fruit to about 8 mm in diameter rounded, conspicuously beaked, covered in 15-18 vertical rows of straw-coloured scales. Seed rugose; endosperm ± homogeneous only slightly penetrated by furrows. (J. Dransfield. 1979)/Palmweb. |
This is a rarely collected, little known palm of northern Malaya. Nothing is known of its ecological preferences except that it has been found growing on limestone in South Thailand (pers. obs.). It appears usually to be a stemless species, and if so, will be a very distinctive easily recognized species with the combination of stemless habit, irregularly grouped leaflets and short highly branched inflorescences. (J. Dransfield. 1979)/Palmweb.
Culture
Comments and Curiosities
Etymology: Concinnus - nicely formed, harmonious. (J. Dransfield. 1979)/Palmweb.
- IMAGE GALLERY
Fairchild FL.
Florida. Photo by Kyle Wicomb.
Florida. Photo by Kyle Wicomb.
Florida. Photo by Kyle Wicomb.
Habitat.
Florida. Photo by Kyle Wicomb.
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).
Dransfield, J. 1979. A Manual of the rattans of the Malay Peninsula. Malayan Forest Recirds 29.. Forest Department, Ministry of Primary Industries, Malaysia.
Many Special Thanks to Ed Vaile for his long hours of tireless editing and numerous contributions.
