Wai hangnou (Calamus tetradactylus)
Description
Calamus tetradactylus is a clustering, slender, dioecious rattan, climbing to 30 m or more, distributed in tropical and sub-tropical China. The species is one of the most important commercial rattans because of its superior quality and high economic value. With characteristics of fast growth, rich sprouting habit and strong adaptation, C. tetradactylus is very suitable for plantations. On the basis of continuous experiment and cultivation practices in several sites, the techniques to establish plantations of C. tetradactylus have been well developed. The paper mainly deals with the biological and ecological characteristics of C. tetradactylus. Slender clustering rattan. Stems climbing to 10 m or more long, without sheaths 0.3–1 cm in diam., with sheaths 0.7–1.8 cm in diam., internodes up to 18 cm long. Leaf ecirrate; sheaths mid green, tending to dry pale, with scattered yellow brown narrow triangular spines 0.2–1.5 cm long, with dark tips, armature variable in abundance; ocrea inconspicuous; knee conspicuous, generally unarmed; flagellum to 1.8 m long; petiole 3–10 cm long; rachis 20–60 cm long; leaflets broadly lanceolate, up to about 10 on each side of the rachis, grouped in pairs except at the apex where a group of 4 in all, and at the very base where occasionally solitary, leaflet grouping sometimes irregular, largest leaflets 11–28 x 2–6.5 cm, the margins usually bristly. Inflorescences male and female superficially similar, the male branched to 3 orders, the female to 2 orders, with up to 4 rather distant diffusely branched partial inflorescences; male rachillae to 12 x 1.5 mm; female rachillae 15–50 x 2 mm. Mature fruit spherical, briefly beaked, about 0.9 cm in diam., covered in about 15 vertical rows of pale straw-coloured scales with narrow darker margins. Seed rounded, flattened on one side, about 0.5 x 0.4 cm; endosperm shallowly ruminate.
Taxonomic tree
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Domain: Eukarya
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Kingdom: Plantae
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Phylum: Tracheophyta
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Class: Liliopsida
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Order: Arecales
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Family: Arecaceae
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Genus: Calamus
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