Daemonorops margaritae (PROSEA)
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Introduction |
Daemonorops margaritae (Hance) Beccari
- Protologue: Rec. Bot. Surv. Ind. 2: 220 (1902).
- Family: Palmae
- Chromosome number: 2n= unknown
Vernacular names
- China: huangteng, hongteng (yellow and red rattan).
Origin and geographic distribution
D. margaritae is widespread in the tropical and subtropical parts of southern China, occurring on Hainan Island, southern Guangdong and Guangxi Provinces, and in cultivation extending to southern Fujian and Yunnan Provinces.
Uses
D. margaritae is an important cane of mediumlarge diameter in China. It is used for all types of weaving and basketware. Seeds are used for making necklaces. Fresh shoots are collected as a vegetable.
Production and international trade
It is estimated that 2025% or 8001000 t/year of rattan production in China comes from this species.
Properties
The cane is yellow with a glossy surface. Specific gravity is 0.399. Tensile strength is 49.1 N/mm2. Lignin content is 21.8%.
Description
Clustering, dioecious rattan; stems climbing to 50 m, the clump tending to be rather close and dense. Stem without leafsheaths 818 mm in diameter, with sheaths 2530 mm in diameter; internodes up to 40 cm long. Whole leaf to 3 m long including the sheath; leafsheath dull green, armed with scattered, triangular redbrown spines to 3.5 cm×5 mm, and redbrown indumentum; knee conspicuous; ocrea poorly developed; petiole about 35 cm long, armed with straight, clawlike, long/short spines joined and in groups; rachis c. 1.2 m long, bearing scattered reflexed spines on the lower surface, distally the rachis prolonged into a whip to 1 m long, bearing grapnellike groups of reflexed spines; leaflets 5075 on each side of the rachis, regularly arranged, narrow, crowded, up to 45 cm×2 cm, with 35 major veins, armed with bristles on the midrib and lateral veins on the upper surface, along the margins and at the tip. Male and female inflorescences very similar, sessile, to 40 cm×15 cm, with a beak c. 8 cm long; 24 inner bracts enclosed within the outermost bract, outermost bract rather densely armed with brown spines scattered and grouped, and covered with dense redbrownish indumentum; rachillae rather slender and sinuous, densely crowded and enclosed within the inner bracts, to 12 mm long, 47 flowers borne on either side, light yellow; calyx to 2 mm, petals to 5 mm, filaments to 1.5 mm long; in female flower ovary ovoid, with 3 stigmas. Ripe fruit 1seeded, rarely 2seeded, ovoid, to 22 mm in diameter, covered in 2123 vertical rows of yellowishbrown scales. Seed to 15 mm×12 mm, weighing c. 1.5 g, covered in a fleshy sarcotesta, kidneyshaped, endosperm ruminate, embryo basal. Seedlingleaf with 5 acute leaflets, dark green.
Cane anatomy The epidermis is built up of one layer of rectangular silicified cells and the subepidermis is composed of 34 layers of lignified parenchyma cells. Vascular bundle density is 46/mm2. Metaxylem vessels are 171μm in diameter. Fibre length is 1.1 mm.
Growth and development
Most seeds germinate 5060 days after sowing. After 6090 days the primary leaf emerges, and after 2436 months the first stem exceeds 1 m length and the first climbing whips appear. D. margaritae may have the potential to produce an exponential increase in the number of aerial stems, but because of competition between them, most of the suckers may not be able to develop into stems. Two to three years after establishment the aerial stems may grow at a rate of 2 m/year. Flowering begins 56 years after sowing. At 810 years old, a clump may already consist of over 30 aerial stems. In China, flowering is from JulyOctober; fruiting is from NovemberFebruary; mature fruits do not drop. New leaves of seedlings are sometimes light red.
Other botanical information
This is the only species of Daemonorops found in China.
Ecology
D. margaritae is found from the lowlands to the hills below 1000 m altitude, in primary or secondary tropical rain forest and subtropical broadleaved forest. In general, the ecophysiological requirements for optimal growth are: a temperature of 2032C (3C or lower may kill young seedlings); more than 1500 mm annual rainfall with over 80% relative humidity; 3050% shade; fertile and damp soil with medium to high amount of humus content (2.54.5%) and pH 4.56.5. Seedlings require more sunlight than others for optimum growth.
Propagation and planting
Although it can be propagated by vegetative means, propagation by seeds is a more common method. Seeds should be extracted and cleaned before sowing. The moisture content of seeds should be kept higher than 29%; the germination rate of ripe and fresh seeds may be 85% or more. In order to improve germination, the inner integument that covers the embryo is sometimes sliced through in the nursery. However, the normal nursery practice is to sow the cleaned seeds in sand beds in the shade; young seedlings (the first true leaf unexpanded) are transplanted into plastic pots containing soil and added nutrients and then kept moist and under 2030% shade. Fertilizer is applied and diseases and pests controlled. Seedlings are ready to plant out when 1215 months old. Although D. margaritae requires the support of a preexisting tree crop or forest canopy for climbing, it requires sufficient sunlight to encourage the development of aerial stems. However, the new leaf of young seedlings may be scorched by full sunlight. In China, smallholders plant D. margaritae in scattered clumps in agroforestry systems; on a commercial scale it has been intercropped in forest at spacings of 3 m×4 m.
Husbandry
In the first 3 years after planting, maintenance involves clearing the lines to allow light to reach the seedlings, loosening soil around the clumps, and mulching. This should be done twice a year. If possible, it is best to supply fertilizer to seedlings (N 30 g, P 10 g and K 15 g per clump) once a year for the first 3 years after planting.
Diseases and pests
Diseases of seedlings and stem shrinkage, and anthracnose are caused by Botryodiplodia sp. and Colletotrichum sp. respectively; fungal diseases are usually the result of poor management and bad growing conditions. Pests of the seedlings such as moths, locusts and rats have also been reported.
Harvesting
Harvesting is carried out by pulling the cane out of the canopy, divesting it of leafsheaths, and then cutting the canes into 45 m lengths, tying them in bundles and transporting to the village. Sometimes the harvesters may cut the mature stems in the forest but leave the stems over until the leaves and leafsheaths dry, so as to collect the canes more easily.
Yield
It has been estimated that the yield of initial harvest of D. margaritae could be about 7.9 t/ha 1011 years after establishment, and in the following years reharvesting may be carried out 4 times in a rotation of five years. Total projected yield may possibly reach 38.7 t/ha within a management period of 25 years. However, these estimates are in need of critical confirmation.
Handling after harvest
The harvested canes are usually sundried by middlemen to prevent attack by staining fungi and powderpost beetle, then sorted and transported to manufacturers for further processing such as rubbing, bleaching and splitting.
Genetic resources
D. margaritae is present in several botanical gardens and arboreta in China but no attempt has been made to establish a collection to represent the considerable variation found in the field.
Breeding
No breeding has been carried out in China so far. Selection of superior phenotypes through provenance trials is necessary.
Prospects
Recent studies show that the cultivation of D. margaritae has been successful, at least on a small scale. The prospects for this species, not only as a cultivated crop on a smallholding scale but also on a commercial scale, are good within China. However, the major problem of extending cultivation is the lack of seeds and the longer return period for investment. Outside China, the significance of this species to rattan development is likely to be as a silvicultural model.
Literature
- Cai, Z.M., 1989. Distribution of vascular tissue in four rattan canes. Acta Botanica Sinica 31(8): 569575.
- Pei, S.J. & Chen, S.Y., 1991. Flora reipublicae popularis sinicae 13(1). Science Press, Beijing, China. pp. 5960.
- Rao, A.N. & Vongkaluang, I. (Editors), 1989. Recent research on rattans. Proceedings of the International Rattan Seminar, Chiangmai, 1214 November 1987. Faculty of Forestry, Kasetsart University, Thailand and International Development Research Centre, Canada. pp. 130136.
- Xu, H.C., Zhou, Z.Z. & Yin, G.T., 1991. Nutrition evaluation of shoots of two rattan species. Rattan Information Centre Bulletin 10(4): 1720.
- Yin, G.T. & Xu, H.C., 1988. A preliminary study on the effect of different levels of light intensity on the growth of rattan seedlings. Forest Research 1(5): 548551.
- Zhou, Z.Z., Xu, H.C. & Yin, G.T., 1991. A financial appraisal of three commercial rattan plantations. Forest Research 5(1): 4755.
Authors
H.C. Xu & G.T. Yin
