Plant · P-975

Rattan

Calamus rotang

Rattan is a spiny, fast-growing climbing palm native to the humid lowland forests of South and Southeast Asia. It scrambles through the surrounding canopy using hooked spines on its leaf sheaths, and the long flexible stems are the source of true rattan cane, split into strips for basketry, furniture and rope. Young shoots are cooked as a vegetable and the ripe, tart fruit is eaten raw or pickled. It needs warm, humid, essentially frost-free conditions and something nearby to climb. No temperate horticultural extension service tracks this species, so its mature size and site figures here reflect general botanical literature rather than field-measured garden data.