Arecaceae
Calamus

Calamus pseudotenuis Becc.

First published in J.D.Hooker, Fl. Brit. India 6: 445 (1892)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is SW. India, Sri Lanka. It is a climbing shrub and grows primarily in the wet tropical biome.

Descriptions

Extinction risk predictions for the world's flowering plants to support their conservation (2024). Bachman, S.P., Brown, M.J.M., Leão, T.C.C., Lughadha, E.N., Walker, B.E. https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.19592

Conservation
Predicted extinction risk: threatened. Confidence: low confidence
[AERP]

Biology
Grows in the moist hill forests of Western Ghats up to 1500 m.
General Description
A slender to moderately robust climber; stem cluster forming with leafsheath 1.5 - 2.5 cm in diameter; exposed part of the stem smooth with internodes 20 - 35 cm or more long, 1 - 2 cm in diameter; leafsheath dull green in colour, armed with straight, subulate spines, 2 - 3 cm long, slightly bulbous at base; with deep brown scurf in between the spines; leafsheath flagellum to 3 m long; ocrea about 10 cm long, petiole up to 15 cm long in older leaves, armed with 3-4 cm long yellowish, straight spines; rachis armed on lower part with straight spines at or near the attachment of leaflets; dorsal part of rachis armed with strong claws; leaflets many, nearly regular, linear-lanceolate, attenuate at apical part; basal leaflets longest, to 45 cm long, 2 cm broad at middle with 3-distinctly bristly upper nerves. Male inflorescence flagelliform, highly branched; primary bracts tubular, armed with scattered, broad-based 5 - 9 mm long deflexed hooks; axial part of the inflorescence armed at intervals with paired, broad-based, 8 mm - 1 cm long spines; partial inflorescence twice or thrice branched; primary rachillae 12-15 cm long; secondary rachillaescorpioid bearing flowers in glomerules. Female inflorescence simply decompound; partial inflorescences attached at the mouth of the respective bracts, 90 cm -1.5 mm long with many slender, to 25 cm long rachillae on each side, attached at the mouth of the respective basal bracts. Fruits ovoid to sub-ovoid, abruptly conical and beaked, 10 mm x 7 mm, ascending from the rachilla; fruit scales straw yellow in colour with broad, very dark intermingled band, arranged in 18 longitudinal series without channelled at middle; fruiting perianth flattened.
Distribution
INDIA (Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu), SRI LANKA.
[PW]

Uses

Use
The slender cane of this species is strong and used for making baskets etc.
[PW]

Sources

  • Angiosperm Extinction Risk Predictions v1

    • Angiosperm Threat Predictions
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

  • Herbarium Catalogue Specimens

    • 'The Herbarium Catalogue, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet http://www.kew.org/herbcat [accessed on Day Month Year]'. Please enter the date on which you consulted the system.
    • Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2024. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2024. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Science Photographs

    • Copyright applied to individual images

  • Palmweb - Palms of the World Online

    • Palmweb 2011. Palmweb: Palms of the World Online. Published on the internet http://www.palmweb.org. Accessed on 21/04/2013
    • Content licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0