Calamus spp. Arecaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Risk assessment results:  Evaluate, score: 3 (Go to the risk assessment)

Common name(s): [more details]

Chamorro: bejuko-n-halumtano

Chinese: sheng teng shu

English: rattan

Kwara‘ae: kalitao‘alo

Nangu: male

Other: rotan, rotan bejuro-n-halumtan

Palauan: bangerenguis ra ngebard

Habit:  vine

Description:  "Solitary or clustering, stemless to high-climbing or erect pleonanthic dioecious rattans; sheaths usually heavily armed with spines, the spines frequently highly organised.  Flagellum (sterile inflorescence) often present, borne on the leaf sheath, sometimes absent and replaced by a cirrus at the end of the leaf, very rarely both present or both absent; knee often present; ocrea sometimes well developed, usually inconsicuous.  Make and female inflorescences superficially similar, often ending in a long flagellum, sometimes with gradual succession of branches, often with descrete distant branches (partial inflorescences); bracts always tubular at the base, rarely with broad limbs splitting down one side, but if so, then the base always tubular and unsplit, bracts variously armed; partial inflorescences usually much longer than the subtending bract, very rarely shorter, involucre and involucrophore inconspicuous.  Male flower with cup-shaped calyx, usually with 3 well defined lobes; corolla split almost to the base into 3 petals; stamens 6, very shortly epipetalous; pistillode minute.  Female flower borne together with a sterile male flower as a pair.  Sterile male flower like the fertile male, but with empty anthers.  Female flower usually larger than the male, with calyx shallowly 3-lobed; corolla with 3 petals; staminodes 6, joined basally to form a ring; ovary tipped with 3 stigmas and covered with reflexed scales; locules 3 with one ovule in each.  Fruit variously shaped, covered in reflexed scales.  Seed usually one only, very variable in shape, covered in a thin to thick sarcotesta; endosperm homogeneous or ruminate; embryo basal or lateral. Seedling leaf bifid or pinnate"  (Dransfield, 1997; p. 85).

"Shrubs or climbing palms (rattans) with hooks. Leaves pinnate, spiraled, the midrib (in some species) prolonged into a hooked flagella (the cirrus); sheath cylindric, rather long, ligulate at the upper end, sometimes flagellate. Leaflets linear, numerous, sometimes ciliate. Inflorescences unisexual (dioecious), inserted on petiolar sheath, often branched; main axis sometimes prolonged into a flagellate extension. Flowers numerous, in spikelets, female flowers usually beside sterile male flowers. Calyx briefly 3-lobed. Stamens 6, filaments somewhat connate, surrounding (usually) a pistillode. Corolla 3-fid, staminodes 6, ovary 3-celled, in female flowers. Fruit dry, stylose, within a scaly pericarp" (Stone, 1970; p. 137).

Habitat/ecology:  (no habitat/ecology info known by PIER)

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  "Africa, India and South china, Sri Lanka, southwards through the Malay Archipelago to Australia and Fiji"  (Dransfield, 1997; p. 85).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Federated States of Micronesia Pohnpei Islands	Pohnpei Island	introduced	Fosberg, F. R./Sachet, Marie-Hélène/Oliver, Royce (1987) (p. 81)
French Polynesia Society Islands	Tahiti Island	introduced cultivated	Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. (2011) Calamus rotang C. Linnaeus Cultivée
Guam Guam Island	Guam Island	introduced	Fosberg, F. R./Sachet, Marie-Hélène/Oliver, Royce (1987) (p. 81)
Palau Palau (main island group)	Babeldaob Island	introduced	Fosberg, F. R./Sachet, Marie-Hélène/Oliver, Royce (1987) (p. 81)
Palau Palau (main island group)	Babeldaob Island	introduced invasive	Raulerson, L./Rinehart, A. F./Falanruw, M. C. (1996) (p. 15) Naturalized
Palau Palau (main island group)	Babeldaob Island	introduced invasive	Space, James C./Lorence, David H./LaRosa, Anne Marie (2009) (p. 14) Voucher: Lorence 9918 (PTBG, BNM, NY)
Palau Palau (main island group)	Babeldaob Island		Beleu National Museum (Republic of Palau. Koror.) (1990) (voucher ID: BNM 99999999) Taxon name on voucher: Calamus sp.
Palau Palau (main island group)	Babeldaob Island		Beleu National Museum (Republic of Palau. Koror.) (1982) (voucher ID: BNM 3176) Taxon name on voucher: none
Palau Palau (main island group)	Babeldaob Island		National Tropical Botanical Garden (U.S.A. Hawaii. Kalaheo.) (2008) (voucher ID: PTBG 211) Taxon name on voucher: Calamus sp.
Papua New Guinea Bismarck Archipelago	Bismarck Archipelago		Peekel, P. G. [translated by E. E. Henty] (1984) (p. 61)
Papua New Guinea Bougainville Islands	Bougainville Island		Foreman, D. B. (1971) (p. 29) Calamus hollrungii Becc.
Philippines Philippine Islands	Philippine Islands	native	Merrill, Elmer D. (1925) (p. 147)
Solomon Islands Solomon Islands	Guadalcanal Island		Bishop Museum (Honolulu) (1956) (voucher ID: BISH 628246) Taxon name on voucher: Calamus (Genus of Arecaceae)
Solomon Islands Solomon Islands	Mikira (San Cristobal) Island		Bishop Museum (Honolulu) (1932) (voucher ID: BISH 102389) Taxon name on voucher: Calamus hollrungii Becc.
Solomon Islands Solomon Islands	Ndeni (Santa Cruz) Island		Bishop Museum (Honolulu) (1972) (voucher ID: BISH 79842) Taxon name on voucher: Calamus (Genus of Arecaceae)
Solomon Islands Solomon Islands	Ndeni (Santa Cruz) Island		Bishop Museum (Honolulu) (1972) (voucher ID: BISH 699253) Taxon name on voucher: Calamus (Genus of Arecaceae)

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
China China	China (People's Republic of)	native	Zhengyi, Wu/Raven, Peter H./Deyuan, Hong (2011)
China China	Hong Kong	native	Wu, Te-lin (2001) (p. 294) Calamus faberii Becc., Calamus palustris Griff., Calamus tetradactylus Hance, Calamus thysanolepis Hance, Calamus walkerii Hance
Singapore Singapore	Singapore (Republic of)	native	Chong, Kwek Yan/Tan, Hugh T. W./Corlett, Richard T. (2009) (p. 21)

Additional information:
Additional online information about Calamus spp. is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Information about Calamus spp. as a weed (worldwide references) may be available from the Global Compendium of Weeds (GCW).

Taxonomic information about Calamus spp. may be available from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).

References:

Beleu National Museum (Republic of Palau. Koror.). 1982. Voucher specimen #BNM3176(Timberlake, J. 3176).

Beleu National Museum (Republic of Palau. Koror.). 1990. Voucher specimen #BNM99999999(Demei, HaruoTakeshi s.n.).

Bishop Museum (Honolulu). 1932. Voucher specimen #BISH 102389 (Brass, L.J. 2719).

Bishop Museum (Honolulu). 1956. Voucher specimen #BISH 628246 (J.L.Gressitt 2734).

Bishop Museum (Honolulu). 1972. Voucher specimen #BISH 79842 (Powell, J.M. 19878).

Bishop Museum (Honolulu). 1972. Voucher specimen #BISH 699253 (Powell, J.M. 19878).

Chong, Kwek Yan/Tan, Hugh T. W./Corlett, Richard T. 2009. A checklist of the total vascular plant flora of Singapore: native, naturalised and cultivated species. Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, National University of Singapore. 273 pp.

Dransfield, John. 1997. The rattans of Brunei Darussalam. Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources, Brunei Darussalam. 217 pp.

Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. 2011. Base de données botaniques Nadeaud de l'Herbier de la Polynésie Française (PAP). (online resource).

Foreman, D. B. 1971. A check list of the vascular plants of Bougainville, with descriptions of some common forest trees. Botany Bulletin No. 5. Division of Botany, Department of Forests. Lae, New Guinea. 194 pp.

Fosberg, F. R./Otobed, D./Sachet, M.-H./Oliver, R. L./Powell, D. A./Canfield, J. E. 1980. Vascular plants of Palau with vernacular names. Department of Botany, The Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 43 pp.

Fosberg, F. R./Sachet, Marie-Hélène/Oliver, Royce. 1987. A geographical checklist of the Micronesian monocotyledonae. Micronesica 20:1-126.

Merrill, Elmer D. 1925. An enumeration of Philippine flowering plants, vol. 1 [reprint]. Bureau of Printing, Manila. 463 pp.

National Tropical Botanical Garden (U.S.A. Hawaii. Kalaheo.). 2008. Voucher specimen #PTBG211(David H. Lorence 9918).

Peekel, P. G. [translated by E. E. Henty]. 1984. Flora of the Bismarck Archipelago for naturalists. Office of Forests, Division of Botany, Lae, Papua New Guinea. 638 pp. ISBN 9980-66-000-7.

Raulerson, L./Rinehart, A. F./Falanruw, M. C. 1996. A botanical reconnaissance of the proposed Compact-impact road alignment on Babeldaob Island, Republic of Palau. U. of Guam Herbarium Cont. No. 32. 78 pp.

Space, James C./Lorence, David H./LaRosa, Anne Marie. 2009. Report to the Republic of Palau: 2008 update on Invasive Plant Species. USDA Forest Service, Hilo, Hawai‘i. 227 pp.

Stone, Benjamin C. 1970. The flora of Guam. Micronesica 6:1-659.

Wu, Te-lin. 2001. Check List of Hong Kong Plants. Hong Kong Herbarium and the South China Institute of Botany. Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department Bulletin 1 (revised). 384 pp.

Zhengyi, Wu/Raven, Peter H./Deyuan, Hong. 2011. Flora of China (online resource).