Calamus lakshmanae Renuka (PALMAE)
Common name
Kannada: Halu betha.
Description: Clustering, high climbing canes; stems to 20 m or more long, easily breaking. Leaves up to 1.7 m long, ecirrate; petioles up to 22 cm, spiny; sheath yellowish green to green, densely spiny, spines up to 1 cm long, bulbous based, distal younger sheaths with brown markings; knee present; leaflets more or less equidistant, up to 45 x 2 cm, linear – lanceolate, 3-veined, margins spinulose, terminal pair united to more than half their length. Inflorescence long, pendulous. The fruit is oval-shaped, measuring approximately 10 by 7 millimeters. It contains scales arranged in 26 rows, with a channel running through the middle, appearing yellowish brown with brownish-black portions at the base and tip. Inside, the endosperm shows a ruminate structure.
Flowering : November.
Fruiting : May – June.
Distribution: India: Evergreen forests of Western Ghats at lower elevations. Karnataka. Endemic.
Uses: A good cane used in furniture industry.
