Calamus laevigatus (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Calamus laevigatus Mart.

Family: Palmae

Vernacular names

• Malaysia: rotan tunggal (Selangor), wae saput (Sabah), wi sugi (Sarawak) (all the local names are used for C. laevigatus var. laevigatus ). The local name "rotan semampun"is also used for C. praetermissus J. Dransf.

Distribution

Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra and Borneo.

Uses

Cane extensively collected as a smalldiameter cane, it is said to be of as good quality as rotan sega ( C. caesius Bl.). In Padawan (Sarawak) it is cultivated by Bidayuh people.

Observations

Solitary, moderatesized rattan to 30 m tall. Stem without leafsheaths 810 mm in diameter. Leaves cirrate; lowermost leaflets swept back across the stem. In C. laevigatus three varieties are distinguished, i.e. var. laevigatus , var. serpentinus J. Dransf. and var. mucronatus (Becc.) J. Dransf.; var. laevigatus is widespread from Peninsular Malaysia and Sumatra to Borneo and grows in lowland and hill rain forests up to 900 m altitude, avoiding peatswamp forests and extreme ridgetop soils; var. mucronatus is widespread in Borneo; var. serpentinus is confined to ultrabasic rock soils up to 500 m altitude in Sabah.

Selected sources

4, 14, 16, 18, 32.