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Philippine Rattans

FOREWORD ……………………………

The greatness of our God is seen In sky, sea and forest green;

And living creatures great and small Reveal the God who made them all. - D. De Haan

This book is a visual guide to identify most of the rattans you may encounter. Also, it is intended to support the improved management of rat-tans in our country. Rattans are climbing palms that provide the raw materi-als for the cane-furniture in industry. Most rattans are distinct from other palms in their consequent growth habit, not as trees but vine-like, scrambling through, over and above other vegetation. Enveloping the stem are sheathing leaf bases which are nearly always fiercely spiny, the spines sometime ar-ranged in neat rows and interlocking to form galleries providing extra protec-tion to an already well protected plant. Rattan remains the most important source of material for making baskets and mats in the South-East Asian region and other Tropical Countries. However, as the wild resource becomes scarce other materials of non timber forest species are used as substitutes. In the Philippines, cane export and even in domestic use is not regulated, resulting in severe over-exploitation and endangering the disappearance of the wild resource. We have short changed nature by taking so much and giving less back. And that is true with rattans. Further, this book is in support to the long chain of rattan depend-ents in the Philippines. For forestry, agroforestry, agriculture, conservation and scientific purposes, likewise this reference material is of great value. The more we learn about life in our world, the more we recognize God’s eternal power and worship Him as Lord of creation. (Roman 1:20) MARCIAL C. AMARO, JR. Director Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau and Project Director ITTO Philippine ASEAN Project

Philippine Rattans

PREFACE

Rattans are climbing palms belonging to the family Arecaceae and very valu-able natural resources economically and socio-culturally. It is placed as sec-ond to timber as export product and dollar earner in most Southeast Asian countries. Since they are always considered as the non timber forest species, the diversity of rattan species still remained poorly recognized by the general public which can be attributed to the inadequate reference material. This field guide book is intended for all interested people who are in need of a general reference in the identification of Philippine rattans for scientific research and technology generation, the industry, community forestry, con-servation and management. It has been inspired by the innovative Field Guide to the Palms of New Guinea (Baker and Dransfield, 2006) and Field Guide to the Rattans of Lao (Evans et al. 2001).

The text includes rattans morphology and terms, description in natu-ral habitat and herbarium pictorial documentation and cautiously designed accounts that will enable the reader to identify Philippine rattans with confi-dence. This work is for all, particularly for those who encounter rattans regu-larly in the field in Philippines and other ASEAN countries in proximity. To date no book on rattans has been published in our country. AIDA BAJA-LAPIS

Preface ii

Acknowledgement

To our God, the maker of everything especially the rattans and designated the very first taxonomist ever…

“Philippine Rattans Guide to Identification” is a product of consultations, friendships and kinship that exchanged of ideas, resources and provision of moral support through-out the creative process. It was realized through the cooperation of institutions and initial financial support by the International Tropical timber Organizations of Yokohama Japan thru the ERDB led project title Application and demonstration of production and utilization technologies for the sustainable development of rattans (PD 334/05 Rev. 2(I). Some of them are not aware that they have helped me.

Special thanks to the Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau family, Director Marcial C. Amaro for his guidance, for the support and co-employee Dolores Bandian, Gino Laforteza (for his photography expertise), Anastacio Magsino, Dante Villarin, Norma Pablo, Russell Olan and Nelson Levi M. Lantican (Line Drawing of Philippine Map) Los Baños Experimental Station (LBES) staff.

Dr. John Dransfield for his encouragement and guidance in the realization of this book.

Dr. William Baker of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew , England for his suggestions and recommendation to make the book simple, complete and light for greater public under-standing but not sacrificing the taxonomic integrity. To all his palm room staff who all provided assistance during my 2007 visit: Melinda Trudgen, Soraya Villalba and Lucy Smith.

Dr. Edwino Fernando and Dr. Domingo Madulid for their technical editing, encourage-ment and generosity in sharing their knowledge, their herbarium collections and pho-tographs/slides collection.

At the Florenze , Italy the keeper of Herbario Centrale Italiciem and Dr. Chiara Nepi and staff namely : Egildo and Padovani are highly appreciated. For preparing all speci-mens collected by Beccari from the Philippines for my easy access and examination and opening of herbarium even after their office hours.

Dr. James Solomon, curator at the Missouri Botanical Garden Herbarium for showing the rattan collections and library.

The Philippine National Museum, Botany Division staff Wilfrido Vendevil and Erwin Es-cuber for their assistance when we visited the collection of herbarium specimen.

The field trips to take photos on site were assisted by; Forest Ranger Arnold Balitor of CENRO Antipolo, Rizal; OIC Mayor of Rodriguez, Rizal Engr. Jonas U. Cruz and Dumagat Chieftain, Mr. Mauricio Cruz of Barangay Puray, Rodriguez Rizal;

Spouses Bert and Myrna Decipulo, Jerry Bruzon, Romy Basada and in Bukidnon. Davao and Surigao; Pastor and Mrs. Guian of Puerto Princesa; PASU Bayani Mendoza and Tinay Umali of Mt Palay Palay; Gregorio Santos, Jr. in Paete, Laguna; and Ulyses Ferreras for photo contribution.

Josephine E. Garcia for her patience and rendering efforts in digitizing specimens and encoding data entries.

To my husband Ernie for the inspiration during the initial drafting to all my children, Jerome, Michael, Princess and Jenny, for making the production of this book seems effortless and enjoyable because they filled my joy for being good and always around to provide the push when work seems endless…

My deep gratitude to all.

AIDA BAJA-LAPIS

Philippine Rattans

Table of Contents

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Purpose of this book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Book Arrangement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 What are Rattans? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Habitat and Ecology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Rattan Morphology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Uses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Local/Common Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Rattan Herbarium Specimen Collection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Collecting Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Illustrated Glossary (line drawings) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Field keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Species Accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Calamus aidae . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Calamus arugda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Calamus balerensis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Calamus bicolor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Calamus batanensis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Calamus caesius . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Calamus cumingianus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Calamus diepenhorstii var. exulans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Calamus dimorphacanthus var. dimorphacanthus . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Calamus dimorphacanthus var. benguetensis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Calamus dimorphacanthus var. halconensis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Calamus dimorphacanthus var. montalbanicus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Calamus dimorphacanthus var. zambalensis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Calamus discolor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Calamus discolor var. negrosensis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Calamus elmerianus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Calamus erinaceous var. erinaceous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Calamus filispadix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Calamus foxworthyi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Calamus grandifolius . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Calamus javensis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Calamus jenningsianus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Calamus malawaliensis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Calamus manillensis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Calamus marginatus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Calamus megaphyllus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Calamus melanorhynchus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 Calamus merrillii . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Calamus merrillii var. merritianus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 Calamus merrillii var. nanga . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 Calamus microcarpus var. microcarpus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Calamus microcarpus var. diminutus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Table of Contents iv

Calamus microcarpus var. longiocrea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Calamus microsphaerion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 Calamus microsphaerion var. spinosior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 Calamus mindorensis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 Calamus mitis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 Calamus moseleyanus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 Calamus multinervis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Calamus ornatus var. philippinensis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 Calamus ornatus var. pulverulentus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 Calamus ramulosus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 Calamus reyesianus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114 Calamus samian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 Calamus scipionum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 Calamus siphonospathus var. siphonospathus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 Calamus siphonospathus var. dransfieldii . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 Calamus siphonospathus var. farinosus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 Calamus siphonospathus var. oligolepis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 Calamus siphonospathus var. polylepis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 Calamus siphonospathus var.sublaevis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 Calamus spinifolius . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132 Calamus subinermis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134 Calamus symphysipus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 Calamus trispermus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 Calamus usitatus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 Calamus vidalianus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142 Calamus vinosus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144 Calamus viridissimus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 Daemonorops affinis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148 Daemonorops clemensiana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150 Daemonorops curranii . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152 Daemonorops gracilis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154 Daemonorops loheriana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156 Daemonorops longipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158 Daemonorops margaritae var. palawanica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 Daemonorops mollis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162 Daemonorops ochrolepis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164 Daemonorops oligolepis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 Daemonorops pannosa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168 Daemonorops pedicellaris . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170 Daemonorops polita . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172 Daemonorops urdanetana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174 Korthalsia laciniosa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176 Korthalsia merrillii . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178 Korthalsia rigida . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 Korthalsia robusta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182 Korthalsia scaphigeroides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 Plectocomia elmerii . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186 Plectocomia elongata var. philippinensis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

Reference/Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

Philippine Rattans

Introduction

Rationale/Objective

Rattans are climbing palms belonging to the family Arecaceae and one very valuable natural resource economically and socio-culturally. It is placed as second to timber as export product and dollar earner in most of South and Southeast Asian countries. The furniture made out of its woody cane is ac-claimed as unique and a beauty to behold which generally regarded as works of artistry that depict a heritage and culture. The Philippines is noted for its leadership in rattan products and has set in-dustrial standard for many finished products in the global market. The coun-try is endowed with the natural resource that has fuelled the industry for many decades. The geographical location, climate and species divesity offer conducive conditions for renewing and sustaining rattans as source of raw material. The rattan species found in the Philippine forests has been known for its workability, durability and fine finesse. The diversity of rattan species remained poorly known to the general public owing to the inadequate reference material since they are always subsumed as the non timber forest species. The existence of a number of species may vary from one account to another due to the limited botanical studies dealing on rattans. Hence, this book is highly relevant to the further understanding of rattans and for their management and conservation.

Introduction 1

Purpose of the book

This book is a reference intended for all interested people who are

in need of a guide in the identification of Philippine rattans for scientific re-

search and technology generation, the industry, community forestry, conser-

vation and management. The book is valuable for the forest policy implemen-

ters to judiciously apply the rules and regulations affecting and aiming at the

sustainable development of rattans. Lastly, to the lovers of nature who can

appreciate more the beauty of rattan particularly the morphologically unique

architecture as shown in the intricate spine patterns and arrangements.

2 Philippine Rattans

Book arrangement

Explanatory notes and background This covers the general information on what are rattans, brief bo-tanical history, distribution and habitat, ecology, flowering and fruiting, uses, local names , situationer. An illustrated glossary provides line drawings to describe the terms used in the book. It includes the materials, equipment and procedure for rattan collecting, specimen preparation and curation for the herbarium. Species and varieties lists per genus This section provides the enumeration of Calamus 59 spp and varie-ties, Daemonorops – 14spp, Korthalsia – 5 spp and Plectocomia -2, species and variety. Field keys to identification These tables are guides to identifying the rattan species and varie-ties by genera. A key to genera and keys for each genus are provided using characters easily observed in the field. Species and varieties accounts This section provides detailed data and information that describe each species and varieties. The first three descriptions are main features easily recognized. The look for part further gives the distinguishing character of the taxa. It is divided into common name habitat/distribution, stem, leaf, inflorescence, fruit and seed. The uses, notable information and species feature for comparison are provided. Additional help

This section provides the Literature as cited and recommends for

further reading, Index to rattan terms and Taxonomic index.

Book Arrangement 3

What are rattans

Rattans are climbing palms either in clusters/clumps or solitary, leafsheath spiny, with long clawed whips originating from the sheath, flagellum and ex-tending from the leaf apex, cirrus, which functions to anchor onto trees. The lengthy stems produced the woody canes that are harvested and cut into poles. The leaf has the petiole, rachis holding the leaflets. The fruits are cov-ered with overlapping scales resembling that of a snake skin. Commonlly, called as “uway” and “yantok” but the ethnic tribes have several vernacular names assigned to them. Botanically, rattans are classified under family Arecaceae, tribe Calamoideae, subtribe Calameae (Dransfield, et al 2005). There are 4 genera thriving in the Philippines, namely Calamus, Daemonorops, Korthalsia and Plectocomia.

Rattan morphology Vegetative: Knee is a swelling on the leafsheath at the base of the petiole. Ocrea is an extension of the leafsheath beyond the petiole insertion. Leaflet is one part of a compound (having 2 or more leaflets) leaf.

Reproductive: Bracts are modified leaf associated with the inflorescence.

Fruits the ripened ovary with adnate (joined) parts. Seed the reproductive

unit formed from a fertilized ovule.

Distribution

Most species are found distributed in the dipterocarp, forest but other spe-cies maybe found in lowland areas even in mangrove and wet sites. It can thrive at an altitude of sea level up to 1000m above sea level. With the prox-imity of the Philippines to Borneo, some species occurring in Borneo are also found in the Philippines like Calamus caesius, C. scipionum, C. erinaceus, C . malawaliensis, C. subinermis, Daemonorops margaritae.

Habitat and Ecology The ecology of the rattans as a group is very difficult to make a generaliza-tion because their range is so great, and their form so diverse. But some gen-eral annotations and observations can be made. The rattans attain its opti-mum diversity in the everwet areas of the Sunda shelf - generally speaking as one goes away from the everwet regions to more seasonal areas, rattans became fewer in number of species and species growing in these are gener-ally different from those of the everwet areas.


The complicated history of island formation on the Sunda Shelf and changing landbridge connections with mainland Southeast Asia have resulted in a high degree of endemism and local distribution discontinuities. Areas such as valley bottoms and lower hill slopes usually have different rat-tan flora from the ridge tops and upper hill slopes. The difference is probably due to soil moisture and relative humidity though it might also be due to the differing soil types in these areas. Any correlation between the type of rattan flora and the soil type is not clear. In some instances when it has been thought possible to generalize about certain species , those species have later been found growing on a dif-ferent soil type. Limestone hills normally have very poor rattan flora though a species of Calamus near C. marginatus in Borneo seems to be confined to limestone. Peat swamp soils carry a varying rattan flora depending on the locality. Intervention is a factor much more readily appreciated. In forest, it has an often drastic effect on the rattans, resulting in some species in colossal de-velopment and in other species in extinction. Some species are apparently so highly adapted to the uniform climate of the forest undergrowth that when it is destroyed they disappear. Other species seem to benefit greatly from dis-turbance but it must be stressed immediately that these are plants of primary forest and are not secondary forest plants. In primary forest, rattans seed-lings are everywhere abundant and opening of the canopy by disturbance on the falling of a tree may allow certain species to “get away” and grow into the light. Secondary forest rattans may be only those light demanding species which grow along river banks.

Rattan Morphology 5

Uses

It is internationally known that rattans are highly valued as source of raw materials for various end products, foremost of which are the canes, benefit-ing mankind at various levels of both the producers and consumers. The pro-duction to consumption hierarchy for canes and their finished products starts from the gathering or harvesting from the natural forests to the utilization of major products. It includes the tillers of plantation for canes and edible shoots as well as extractors of secondary elements such as dyes, medicine up to the various sophisticated users of fine furniture, ornate basketry work and the like. It is used as reforestation material in secondary and residual forests basically to improve and add to land productivity. A rattan is also considered a produc-tive species for watershed reservations to maximize the land’s protective function and enhance productive function in the long run (Baja-Lapis, 1999). Rattan fruits are delicacy and natural food, pickled and popularly fermented for vinegar and wine. Otherwise, the fleshly sarcotesta are made into condi-ments and confectionaries. According to records, edible fruits are produced by Calamus manillensis, C. ornatus var. philipinensis, C. trispermus, C. mitis and C. vinosus. Fruits of Calamus ornatus var. philippinensis and C. manillen-sis are now commonly sold in markets during the months of October to No-vember. Rattan fruit wine is emerging to be an indigenous commodity in Northern Luzon. For the young shoots or cabagge locally known a “ubod” almost all rattans can be eaten but the most popularly known are gathered from Calamus mer-rillii, C. ornatus var. philippinensis, C. mindorensis, and C. reyesianus. Al-though not yet commercially found in markets, village and indigenous people savor the young shoot by broiling or as vegetable dish with fish and bush meats. The mangyans of Mindoro Islands have a traditional and unique use of rattan slender canes or splits as coiled skirt clothing or yakis. This is most preferred by the old women because they can bathe, sleep and use it daily without

frequent washing with soap.


Local/Common names

While rattans collected from different areas and localities in the Philippines may have different vernacular and local names, the local names attached to it are the most commonly used. In this work, only the common names are attached to the taxa. As a word of caution, the use of vernacular names to identify the rattans should only give a hint and not to be relied upon as to the real identi-fication. The vernacular name is valuable in communicating with the local people but to be closely verified. It is the initial step to the hunting of Philip-pine rattans in the wild. Most ethnic people would have the vernacular name for rattans which can be referred to and led to the location where they were encountered. However, as used interchangeably to different species its use may create confusion.

Rattan herbarium specimen collections

Philippine rattan collections started during the Spanish era, circa 1837. The first collection was named by Father Blanco as Calamus usitatus. The Species Blancoana by Merrill included this rattan in his account. Parts of rattan plant are collected in fragments because of large, bulky size and spiny that can hardly fit in standard herbarium sheets, thus the early collections are very fragmentary and often composed of mixed parts from different species. However, rattan parts show distinguishing features that are useful characters for identification. With high plasticity of features at different stages of life, characters are often combined to establish iden-tity. Also oftentimes, rattans show identifying information even though col-lected in sterile state.

The vegetative parts like leaf and leafsheath are distinguishing char-acters thus found in herbarium sheets. When samples collected are on repro-ductive stage, it could be either with flower parts or with fruits, thus often

times the complete set of material may not be always available.

Local/Common Names 7

Collecting method

Materials and equipment are needed for field collections: Pruning shears or secateurs Bolo or machete Field notebook Pencil Tags for labels Plastic or manila rope Newspaper Plastic bags or jute sack Tape measure Binocular Wooden pressers Field notes Field notes record the observations and descriptions as seen in the field. It is compose location, date of collection, collectors name and the information hardly preserve in herbarium or character that may change when dried like color, easily detached characters like indumentum and occurrence or pres-

ence of insects and other organisms.

The field notes should have the following: Collectors name, number and date

Location and GPS data: altitude and direction, habitat or type of forest

Stem habit: clustering, solitary Cane diameter with or without leafsheath Internode length Climbing organ: cirrus or flagellum Knee Leafsheath spines and arrangement Ocrea: well developed or not Leaflet: regular or irregular (in groups or pairs, with gaps)

Inflorescence or infructescence Fruit Seed

Digital images of rattan must be taken during field work particularly the flow-ering and fruiting stages. Photographs maybe included in the herbarium specimens.


Illustrated glossary (line drawings)

Philippine rattan stems are solitary or clustering (Fig 1a and b).

Fig. 1a Fig. 1b

The stem is enveloped by leafsheaths with spines which maybe acicular or needle like (Fig. 2a) as in Calamus dimorphacanthus and Daemonorops loheri-anus, triangular (Fig. 2b) as shown in Calamus filispadix and C. caesius or short nearing nil only sharp to touch (Fig 2c) as in Calamus mindorensis.

Fig. 2a Fig. 2b Fig. 2c Spines arrangements differ from one species to another which provides iden-tifying features in the field. Then come in ring around the leafsheath (Fig 3a) as in Calamus symphysipus and Daemonorops ochrolepis, whorl (Fib 3b) as in Calamus ornatus, scattered all over the leafsheath (Fig 3C) as in Calamus subinermis and C. marginatus.

Fig. 3a Fig. 3b Fig. 3c

Illustrated Glossary 9

Leafsheaths have protrusions below the petiole called the knees (Fig 4a bulgy, Fig 4b elongate-folded, Fig 4c elongate-flat, Fig 4d elongate inflated and Fig 4e cylindrical with ant holes as in Korthalsia scaphigeroides). Knees

are covered with spines same as the leafsheaths.

Fig. 4a Fig. 4b Fig. 4c Fig. 4d Fig. 4e The leafsheath mouth may have extended part near the petiole referred to as the ocrea, the presence of is an important feature in the identification. (Fig 5a minute, Fig 5b flat almost around the stem, Fig 5c flat long with tattered tip, Fig 5d flat long with pointed tip, Fig 5e net like as in Korthalsia laciniosa, Fig 5f papery long as in Calamus discolor, bicolour and aidae).

Fig. 5a Fig. 5b Fig. 5c Fig. 5d Fig. 5e Fig. 5f

Climbing organs are visible feature of rattans that allows the climbing and serve as anchor to support trees. Two types of climbing organs are cirrus (Fig 6a) which extends from the leaf apex and flagellum (Fig 6b) which arises from the leafsheath sometimes functions as sterile inflorescence. Cirrus can be found on all four Philippine genera but flagellum is found only in Calamus.

Fig. 6a Fig. 6b

cirrus flagellum


Leaf with cirrus, is termed as cirrate (Fig 7a) and with out cirrus, is termed as ecirrate (Fig 7b).

Fig. 7a Fig. 7b Leaf may be petiolate or with petiole (Fig 8a) as in Calamus dimorphacanthus and without a petiole (Fig 8b) termed as epetiolate as in Calamus javensis.

F i g . 8 a Fig.8b

Leaflets arrangements are described in uninterrupted manner along the ra-chis as (Fig 9a, regular) as in Calamus merrillii and irregular with gaps (Fig 9b) in Calamus microcarpus, fanned (Fig 9c) as in Calamus microsphaerion.



Leaftlet maybe linear lanceolate-narrow (Fig 10a), broadly lanceolate some-times boat shaped (Fig 10b) and fish tail like or diamond shape (Fig 10c) as in Korthalsia rigida.


Leaflet margin maybe entire (Fig 11a) and praemorse (Fig 11b).

Fig. 11a Fig. 11b

The inflorescence (flowering) comes in two ways namely: hapaxanthic-rattan flowers and fruits then dies as shown by Plectocomia and pleonanthic - where rattans flower, fruits and stem elongation continuous at the same time as shown by most Calamus, Daemonorops and Korthalsia. The inflorescence and infructescence (fruit bearing) are similar in features with bracts that are tubular (Fig 12a either sheating and tightly or loosely) as in Calamus siphono-spathus and boat shaped (Fig 12b mostly observed in Daemonorops).

Fig. 12a - tightly Fig. 12a - loosely Fig. 12b


They may be long and drooping called flagelliferous (Fig 13a) and short bunches in crescent curve form (Fig 13b), branches are termed as partials and have distinct flower or fruit bearing part termed as rachillae. Individual flower is borne on a bracteole.

Fig. 13a Fig. 13b

Fruits comes in shapes of ovoid (Fig 14a), spherical (Fig 14b) and ellipsoid (Fig 14c) with beaked tip as pointed (Fig 15a) and flattened (Fig 15b).


Fig. 15a Fig. 15b Fruits are covered by scales that have vertical grooves or lines, maybe dis-tinctly pressed and wide (Fig 16a), narrow (Fig 16b) and fine line almost nil (Fig 16c).



Seed is covered by fleshy sarcotesta that are sweet when fully ripe or sour sometimes bitter. Many species have one seed but three species are 2 to 3 seeded like Calamus manillensis and C. trispermus. Seed maybe round or oblong and endosperm is pitted or ruminate (Fig 17a) or smooth (Fig 17b).

Fig. 17a Fig. 17b

Seedling leaf or eophyll maybe simple entire (Fig 18a) as in Plectocomia, bifid (Fig 18b) as in Calamus ornatus, partial bifid (Fig 18c) as in Calamus caesius, palmate (Fig 18d) as in Calamus merrillii and Daemonorops mollis and praemorse (Fig 18e) as in Korthalsia sp.


Fig. 18d Fig. 18e


Field keys

The guide book consists of a Key to the four genera of rattans found in the Philippines, namely Calamus, Daemonorops, Korthalsia and Plectoco-mia. Each genus have the keys to identification of species and taxa, thus the book is composed of four identifying keys. Thus, four keys to identification can be used to differentiate species/taxa belonging to the Calamus, Dae-

monorops, Korthalsia and Plectocomia.

Key to the Four Genera

Key to the Calamus Species and varieties A. Habit slender - cane <2cm in diameter with sheath stem <3cm

Leaflets diamond shaped, leaflet jogged

Korthalsia

Leaflets not dia-mond shaped, leaflet entire

Bracts tubular to funnel shaped climbing organ cirrus or flagellum

Calamus

Bracts not tubular climbing organs only cirrus

Leaflets regular linear concolorous

Daemonorops

Leaflets irregular fanned

Plectocomia

Stem solitary Leaflets narrowly linear lanceolate

- Ocrea present distinct

Leaflets irregular about 30 cm long x 10-15 mm wide along rachis in groups 4-6

C. microcarpus var. microcarpus

Leaflets irregular about 30 cm long x 0.6-10 mm wide along rachis in groups of 2-8 some-times fanned

- cane diameter <5mm; ocrea<5cm long

C. microcarpus var. diminitus

Field Keys 15

- cane diameter >5mm; ocrea >5cm long

C. microcarpus var. longiocrea

- Ocrea absent C. filispadix

Leaflets broadly lanceolate

Petiole distinct long to 16cm

C. ramulosus

Petiole not distinct C. mitis

Stem clustering Climbing organ cirrus

- Sheath spines triangular, sparse

Leaflet underneath with bluish indumentum

C. caesius

Leaflet underneath no indumentum

C. malawaliensis

- Sheath spines acicular, scattered

Leaflets linear lanceolate

C. vidalianus

Leaflets broadly lanceolate

- spines present scattered above leaflet

C. spinifolius

- spines absent on both side of leaflets

C. elmerianus

Climbing organ flagellum

- Petiole long up to 15 cm long

C. usitatus

- Petiole short almost nil

Leaflets discolorous, sheath unarmed

C. discolor var. negrosensis

Leaflets not Discolorous, sheath armed with acic-ular/laminar spines 5-7 mm long

- leaflets 8 per side of rachis

C. balerensis

- leaflets at apex half cinnate forming fan like

C. javensis


B. Habit robust - cane >2cm in diameter; sheath stem >3cm

Leaflets broadly lanceolate, >3cm wide at mid part

Leaflets irregular set in distinct groupings in 23 or alternately 1 with pair or clustered

Sheath unarmed, smooth, dull green

Climbing organ flagellum, clustering

C. cumingianus

Climbing organ cirrus, solitary

C. megaphyllus

Sheath armed with short spines, stout bases

Knee bulgy, leaflet apex acuminate

C. reyesianus

Knee elongate, Leaflet apex acute

C. viridissimus

Leaflets set more or less regular in one plane with equidistant gaps

Climbing organ a flagellum

- Sheath unarmed, smooth

C. moselayanus

- Sheath armed with triangular spines

Spines no definite arrangement, ringly dispersed

C. scipionum

Spines with definite arrangements in Oblique pattern

- group of spines in ring pattern around the stem

C. symphysipus

- group of spines in short semi-ring pattern, others in 1s and 2s

C. ornatus var. philippinensis

Climbing organ a cirrus or sub-cirrus

- Stem sheath unarmed

Sheath grayish brown, inflorescence in crescent form

C. ornatus var. pulverulentus

Sheath dull green, inflorescence flagelliform

C. multinervis

Field Keys 17

- Stem sheath armed

• Sheath spines very short sometimes almost nil sharp to touch like sand paper

› seed 2 to 3, angular, smooth

Knee with spines near leafsheath mouth less dense, sheath sometimes smooth or with sparely distributed spines

C. manillensis

Knee spines near leafsheath mouth more dense, sheath with evenly Distributed bulgy base spine

C. trispermus

› seed 1 globose or rounded pitted

C. mindorensis

• Sheath spines long, numerous, slender fine and bristles like

› leaflets about 6m wide, alternate 7cm apart along rachis

Bracts subtending rachillae tubular flattened, spiny on apex and along sides

C. grandifolius

› leaflets about 4cm wide

Lamina nerves un-derneath with spinules

C. subinermis

Lamina nerves with out spinules

* fruit about 25mm diameter, scale margin distinct brown

C. jenningsianus

* fruit about 14mm diameter scale margin in distinct

C. vinosus


Leaflets narrowly linear lanceolate, <3cm wide at mid part

Leaflets regular Climbing organ flagellum

Sheath spines Triangular, around mouth length 12-15 cm long

C. marginatus

Sheath spines short triangular, around mouth 5-10 mm long

C. diepenhorstii var. exulans

Climbing organ cirrus

Ocrea distinctly long to >20cm, rigid erect

- Knee elongate, inflated, fruiting perianth cyclindri-cal fruit scale slightly groove

Cane diameter less than 1 cm; leaflet about 7-16 x 0.4-0.5

C. dimorphacan-thus var. dimorphacanthus

Cane diameter more than 17-28 x 1-1.5 cm

- fruit scales with brownish margins; bracteoles loosely funnel-shaped; fruits 8-12 per rachillae; areola quite distinct with swollen base

C. dimorphacan-thus var. benguetensis

- fruit scales without brownish margins; bracteoles slightly funnel shaped; fruits 7-18 per rachillae, are-ola not distinct

• ocrea elongate, about 16 cm; leaf-sheat spines of 2 types, needle like and triangular based, pointed, in short whorls

C. dimorphacan-thus var. montalbanicus

Field Keys 19

• ocrea almost flat, about 3 cm; leafsheath spines flat; in whorls, arranged in slightly diagonal pattern

› leaflet nerves 7-9, bristly on 3-5 nerves above, naked to bristly only mid-nerve below, transverse veins few rather indistinct

C. dimorphacan-thus var. halconensis

› leaflet mid-nerve very distinct with 4 secondary slight nerves above, spinulous to bristly on mid-nerve above, transverse veins many

C. dimorphacan-thus var. zambalensis

• Knee bulbous, sometimes elongate fruiting perianth campanulate fruit scales without grooves or very slightly grooved

* Bracts and bracteoles armed

Leafsheath spines few, scattered, the basal 2-3 bracts empty, subsequent bracts subtending partial inflorescence

C. siphonspathus var. sub-laevis

Leafsheath spines many scattered, sometimes in whorls, first bract subtending partial inflorescence

- leafsheath spines rigid, (to be continued)


numerous, tips

divided, some pointed, bases shortly elevated

C. siphonospathus var. dransfieldii

- leafsheath spines rigid, unequal slender to triangular solitary, in groups or in short whorl

• Rachillae short, about 1.5-2.5 cm

C. siphonospathus var. siphonospathus

• Rachillae long. About 3-4 cm

* leaflets with dense brown indu-mentum along margins and mid-nerve, apparently hairy without spinules below

C. siphonospathus var. polylepis

* leaflets without dense indumen-tum along margins and nerves, with spinules on mid-nerve below

C. siphonospathus var. oligolepis

* Bracts and bracteoles unarmed

C. siphonospathus var. farinosus

Climbing organ Cirrus (frm p.__)

Ocrea absent very much reduced or papery long

- Sheath spines needle like, very fine or brushy

• leaflet concolorous without indumentum

Sheath spines in definite pattern of semi-ring

C. foxworthyii

Field Keys 21

Sheath spines without definite pattern

- inflorescence arising from axils of leafsheath, drooping

C. batanensis

- inflorescence arising beneath leafsheath mouth opposite knee ascending

C. samian

• leaflet discolours with indumentum

Climbing organ flagellum

C. discolor

Climbing organ cirrus or subcirrate

- inflorescence pendulous, rachel-lae spreading

C. erinaceous var. erinaceous

- inflorescence ascending, rachel-lae closely set

• fruit oblong or ovoid, yellowish green

C. aidae

• fruit globose, pale pink

C. bicolor

- Sheath spines triangular long

Climbing organ flagellum, inflorescence flagelliform rachillae

C. melanorhyn-chus

Climbing organ cirrus, inflores-cence drooping with rachillae slightly ascending

C. merrillii var. merrillii

Leaflets irregular in 2’s - 4’s fanned

Spines triangular 4-5 mm long, sparse distibuted

C. microsphaerion

Spines bulbous 5-12 mm long, densely distributed

C. microsphaerion var. spinosior


Key to the Daemonorop species

Stem slender with sheath 1.5-2.5 cm in diameter; cane <2cm

Sheath spines acicular needle like creamy, few on leafsheath mouth, with ring pattern around sheath or ripple like sheath when fallen

D. pedicellaris

Sheath spines triangular flat, dark brown numerous around leafsheath mouth, erect, long 4 cm. No definite Pattern.

D. gracilis

Stem robust with sheath 3-6 cm in diameter cane >2cm

Knee elongate folded and spine laminar in groups

D. polita

Sheath without indumentum

Sheath spines in diagonal pattern on semi-ring

- spines lamina, flat petiole yellowish

D. mollis

- spines acicular needle like, black; petiole not yellowish

D. loherianus

Sheath spines no pattern

- leaflet apex no recurved exten-sion, spinules on mid-vein

D. urdaneta

- Leaflets regu-lar, numerous, bases closely set along rachis; bristly above

Sheath with dark brown reddish indumentum

Knee bulgy, spine needles brushy

D. margaritae

Field Keys 23

Key to the Korthalsia species

- leaflet apex with hairlike recurved exten-sion spinulous both sides

D. pannosa

- Leaflets Irregular, bases with about 2-5 cm apart along axis; linear lanceolate

Mid leaf leaflets narrowly linear lanceolate. Mid leaflet width <20

- knee bulgy, triangular spines on mouth

Leaflets bristly below mid vein

D. clemensiana

- knee not bulgy spines slender elongate laminar, black

Leaflets nerves smooth surface, spinules near apices

D. affinis

Mid leaf leaflets widely linear lanceolate. Mid leaflet width >20

Sheath spines in definite pattern (Dovasicate)

D. ochrolepis

Sheath spines without definite pattern

- spines 4-8 cm long triangular

D. longipes

- spines slender D. oligolepis

Ocrea inflated K. scaphigeroides

Ocrea not inflated

Leaflets whitish underneath concolorous

Ocrea no spines, lacerate fibrous; catkin not spiral ≤1 cm thick

K. laciniosa

Ocrea with spines, infolding long catkin spiral and overlapping ≥1 cm thick

K. robusta

Leaflets not whitish under-neath, glaucous

Bracts tips with extended small leaf sheaths

K. merrillii

Bracts tips with-out extended leafsheaths

K. rigida


Fruit of Calamus manillensis 25

Account of Species and varieties

The book covers 80 species and varieties found and known in the Philippines as validly published. The basis of the listing is the World Checklist of Palms (Govaerts and Dransfield, 2005). It is composed of Calamus - 59 species and varieties Daemonorops - 14species, Korthalsia - 5 species and Plectocomia - 2 species and variety. It maybe noted that there are a number of species that were lumped with earlier published taxa. Changes in identifi-cations are inevitable in the light of the continuing build up of specimens which provide more evidences as to the identity of species. For example, Calamus blancoi, Kunth (1841) used to stand as a distinct species but when more materials were made available and further studied and examined, more evidences showed its close relatedness and affinity to Calamus usitatus Blanco (1837) Since Calamus usitatus is a valid name and following the earli-est date of publication , Calamus blancoi became a synonym of Calamus usi-tatus. This holds true with Calamus meyenianus which is now also a synonym of C. usitatus.

With the most recent collection of herbarium materials, there are

species occurring in Borneo that were also found in the Philippines, mostly

observed and collected in Palawan Island. They are Calamus erinaceus, C.

foxworthyii, C. malawaliensis, C. javensis, C. subinermis, among others

(Dransfield, 1982). Also new species were added to the Philippine rattan

lists, namely Calamus aidae, C. balerensis C. ornatus var. pulverulentus, Dae-

monorops polita (Fernando, 1989) and Plectocomia elongata var. philippinen-

sis (Madulid, 1982). Further study also sorted out complex and closely related

species of Calamus microcarpus, C. dimorphocanthus and C. siphonospathus.

The study yielded new varieties as reduced from species and new species

combinations (Baja-Lapis, 1987). All species and varieties that have been

published as to their name change synonymy, new species and varieties and

as new records were included.

Aside from the original publication which is the basis of nomencla-ture, the recent herbarium materials collections deposited at Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau (ERDB Botany Laboratory cum Herbarium, EBL), Philippine National Herbarium ( PNH), UP college of Forestry Herbarium (LBC), Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew ( K), Herbario Florenze( FI) Missouri Botanical Garden and Herbarium (MO) were examined. In the course of pho-tography at the location and habitat, herbarium specimens were taken, thus materials were added to the wealth of rattan materials for future study. The photo images herbarium specimens have collectors number and are reflected

along the left side of every photo plate.


Species Accounts 27

The species or varieties are presented in scientific names. Opposite

every scientific names are the common name. When local names by ethnic group is known, then it will follow the common name and the ethnic group enclosed in parenthesis. The succeeding line presents the distinct features when encountered in the field. The following line shows the important fea-tures which are special to the taxa. The right hand portion of the first species page provides the data and information on the distribution and habitat, stem, leaf, inflorescence or infructescence, fruit, seed/seedling and uses.

The species belonging to the genus is described as to its habitat and

distribution. Taxa distribution was based on the attached herbarium labels where the collections were done. To show the relative site where the taxa were found, a map of the Philippines is provided with corresponding dot indi-cating the provinces where they were found. When the data is available, the altitude, characteristics of the area as to soil type, type of forest are pro-

vided for.

The habit whether as clustering or clump forming and solitary and robust or slender are the distinguishing features given more emphasis as they are easily seen in the field. Both the vegetative and reproductive parts and their combination are useful to segregate species. The vegetative characters are cane diameter, stem diameter with leafsheath, the climbing organs: cir-rus or flagellum, sheath armatures or spines, leaf, leaflet as regular or irregu-lar, leaflet shape, presence and absence of bristles. The reproductive charac-ters are infructescence, inflorescence-male or female, spathes, number of partials and subpartials, fruit, and seed.

Descriptions and measurement data of plant parts are all based on

field observations and herbarium specimens. Descriptions and measurement data of plant parts are all based on

field observations and herbarium specimens. Also mentioned are the uses of the species and field notes or obser-

vation that may contribute to the understanding of the present status of the rattans.

The included species have photographs or illustration that show the

most important characters that best describe the species. The habit of each species was taken from the location where they are found, when possible. The code number be it collectors or herbarium number of the specimen for species is included in the photo plate. However, when finding the species in the habitat becomes a limitation, some species are shown in herbarium speci-mens or portions of the plant parts. The collector’s number or the herbarium number where the specimen is deposited is reflected in every plate.

On the bottom right portion second page provides the “note box”

which describes or tells additional peculiar features and comparison with

similarly looking species or varieties. Also the note box may describe features

of young or immature characters and characters observed when fresh that are

can no longer be seen in the dried state, such as color.

Taxa accounts (80)


philippine rattans - international tropical timber ... text... · first taxonomist ever ... rizal;...

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