Taxon Project: Rattan

Click the Rattan to view the nexus file:

All about Rattan:

Of extreme economic significance to SE Asia, Borneo especially, Rattan stems are used to build a variety of objects which the average westerner probably encounters on a frequent basis without ever realizing it’s origin. Most notable rattan products are furniture (recognizable as classic wicker-style), in SE Asia, rattan is used in culinary endeavors as well, it is thought to contain certain healing properties as a result of its extremely bitter taste (branching off of a kind of humeral theory approach to health with the thought that the bitterer, the medicine the more potent the cure). Rattan is a member of the Pamaceae family and is spread throughout seven genera: Korthalsia, Plectocomia, Plectomiopsis, Ceratolobus, Daemonorops, Retispathat, and Calamus. Rattan is easily recognizable by its spiny sheath (which is easily stripped off while harvesting) and it’s physiology as a woody climber, typically observed climbing up other trees towards the canopy, using its thorns as purchase. Rattan have a unique physiological adaptation called flagella, long and thin projections with claw-like thorns protruding from the end of the leaf, which aide them in finding and consequently staying on their host species. Rattans are extremely versatile and have been observed during this study in the majority of the habitat types visited on this excursion, with the exception of: mangrove forests, and the upper montane forest of Mt. Kinabalu.

Consensus Tree by Majority Rule

Main

Note: I realize that some of my characters are a little obscure, but as soon as I have a camera and equipment handy, there will be a standard for each "type" described in the table.