RATTAN (Calamus genus)
If you have ever been held back by the hooks of the rattan fronds, you will understand how it earn its name of ‘Nanti Sikit’ or ‘Wait A Minute’ plant. Belonging to the palm family, the rattan together with the bamboo is the most useful plant to be found in the SE Asian jungles. The most common species of rattan in SE Asia are those of the Calamus genus which has seventy species in Malaysia alone. Rattans grow from seedlings which are scattered by wild animals eating the rattan fruit. When it first grows, it appears as a rosette of leaves visible above ground, enclosing the palm heart. The new sword leaves protrudes from the tip of the stem, tightly furled. This leaf opens out and slowly bends backwards. As it does, it may touch another plant or tree and then becomes closely attached to it by the hooks along the leaf’s mid-rib. The mid-rib is extended as a whip armed with more fearful hooks which enable the rattan to reach the canopy by clinging to the growing trees. The rattans are frequently inhabited by scale insects. They are transported there by ants so that the insect can suck the sap of the stem and than the ants milk the scale insects for a sugary fluid. The rattan benefit by having ants living on it providing a final line of defense against marauding animals looking to get at it’s palm heart.
Rattan produce fruits which are covered with hard shiny scales
which overlap in neat patterns, each with a groove from base to pointed tip along the mid-line. Scales of rattan fruit vary from yellowish brown to black, with some striking exceptions, such as a magenta colored fruit and an ivory and black parti-colored fruit. The brilliant red of some of the rattan species comes from a red resin which thickly encrusts the scales. This is known as dragon’s blood and is used in various ways in handicrafts and medicine. Within the scales of the rattan fruits is a layer of flesh which may be sweet and tasty or sour and inedible. The tip of the rattan palm, the palm cabbage or palm heart is enjoyed by wild animals and also man. The rattan heart is toasted by Thai tribal hill peoples and eaten as a slightly bitter but aromatic
vegetable.
Do you know…. Dragon’s blood was once a major commodity of trade between South East Asia and China. When the fruits are shaken in a basket filled with cockle shells, the resin is scrapped off. It then falls out through small holes in the basket as a gritty powder. This powder is than pounded and then softened with hot water and kneaded into lumps and sold as an ingredient for medicines, often as an eye medicine. In Europe, it is better known as a cure for dysentery and diarrhea
Rattan produce fruits which are covered with hard shiny scales
which overlap in neat patterns, each with a groove from base to pointed tip along the mid-line. Scales of rattan fruit vary from yellowish brown to black, with some striking exceptions, such as a magenta colored fruit and an ivory and black parti-colored fruit. The brilliant red of some of the rattan species comes from a red resin which thickly encrusts the scales. This is known as dragon’s blood and is used in various ways in handicrafts and medicine. Within the scales of the rattan fruits is a layer of flesh which may be sweet and tasty or sour and inedible. The tip of the rattan palm, the palm cabbage or palm heart is enjoyed by wild animals and also man. The rattan heart is toasted by Thai tribal hill peoples and eaten as a slightly bitter but aromatic
vegetable.
Do you know…. Dragon’s blood was once a major commodity of trade between South East Asia and China. When the fruits are shaken in a basket filled with cockle shells, the resin is scrapped off. It then falls out through small holes in the basket as a gritty powder. This powder is than pounded and then softened with hot water and kneaded into lumps and sold as an ingredient for medicines, often as an eye medicine. In Europe, it is better known as a cure for dysentery and diarrhea