Rattan Diversity of The Upper Tabalong Area

Geographical distribution of rattans in Borneo
The rattans flora has been described for Sabah (Dransfield, 1984), Sarawak (Dransfield, 1992) and Brunei Darussalam (Kirkup, 1999). However, there is no similar treatment for Kalimantan. Hence information on the rattans of Indonesian Borneo has been compiled based mainly on the study of herbarium specimens in Bogor and a literature study. Only one rattan species Calamus impar appears to be a local endemic for South Kalimantan. Local endemics in Sarawak comprise 12 species, Sabah has 11 endemic species, and East Kalimantan two endemic species (C. rugosus and C. spectatissimus). All Calamus found in UTA are quite common and widespread in other parts of Borneo.
For Daemonorops, Sarawak has three local endemic species, Sabah has two species, and Central, East and South Kalimantan each have one taxon species respectively, Daemonorops tenella var. tenella, D. formicata, and D. hystrix var. minor respectively. Ceratolobus are rather widespread. For Korthalsia, Sarawak has one local endemic species (K. furcata) and Sabah also has one species namely K. concolor. The four species of Korthalsia at the UTA are common. However, K. flagellaris, which is very common throughout Borneo was not found in UTA. Plectocomia and Plectocomiopsis are apparently quite widespread in Borneo though the population size is usually small, as in UTA. Two Bornean rattan genera are not represented at UTA (Pogonotium and Retispatha).
The Wider geographical distribution of Borneo rattans
Rattans known to occur in Borneo comprise eight genera namely Calamus (with 72 species), Ceratolobus (three species), Daemonorops (31 species), Korthalsia (13 species), Plectocomia (two species), Plectocomiopsis (three species), Pogonotium (three speies), and Retispatha (one species). The latter is monotypic and the only rattan genus endemic to Borneo. Many species of Calamus are endemic to Borneo and most are local endemics for Sarawak, Sabah, and Brunei (Appendix 7). Calamus amplijugus, C. muricatus, C. pilosellus occure only in Sumatra and Borneo, C. axillaris, C. lobbianus, C. paspalanthus, and C. rugosus occur only in the Malay Peninsula and Borneo.
Five taxa of Calamus that are found in UTA are endemic to Borneo: C. erioacanthus, C. laevigatus var. mucronatus, C. optimus, C. pogonacanthus, and C.pseudoulur. Other species of Calamus found in UTA namely C. paspalanthus occur in Borneo and Sumatra; C. flabellatus, C. laevigatus var. laevigatus, C. manan occur in Borneo, Malay Peninsula and Sumatra; C. caesius and C. scipionum besides Borneo, are found in South Thailand, Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, to Palawan in the Philippines; C. marginatus, besides Borneo is found in Sumatra and Palawan. The very widespread Calamus are C. javensis and C. ornatus; besides Borneo, they are found in South Thailand, Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Java to Palawan. Both latter species have varieties in different part of their range.
No endemic species of Ceratolobus were found in UTA. C. subanglatus was found in UTA and occurs in the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra. Three Daemonorops from UTA are endemic for Borneo namely D. atra, D. fissa, and C.kothalsii. Daemonorops draco (besides Borneo), is found in Sumatra.
Daemonorops sabut is also found in the Malay Peninsula, D. hystrix and D. didymophylla are rather widespread. Daemonorops hystrix is found in Sumatra and Java besides in Borneo, whilist D. didymophylla is found in South Thailand, the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra besides Borneo. Four species of Korthalsia from UTA have a widespread distribution. K. echinometra and K. hispida are found in the Malay Peninsula, and Sumatra besides Borneo. K. rostrata is found in South Thailand, the Malay Peninsula, and Sumatra besides Borneo, K. rigida is found through South Thailand, Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Java, to Palawan besides Borneo. Plectocomia elongata and Plectocomiopsis geminiflora also have widespread distribution, although the latter does not occur in Palawan. Plectocomiopsis mira has the same distribution latter minus South Thailand and Java. The rattan cane or the plant it self is known by local name as rotan or paikat. Every complete rattan name has the prefix paikat, hence Calamus manan is called paikat manau, C. trachycoleus is called paikat irit and so on. The names sega or taman are both used for C. caesius. According to our rattan collector (Pa Mulyadi) the local name ‘taman’ for C. caesius is taken from the word ‘teman’ which mean friend indicates that the cane is closely related the everyday life of the Dayak people. However, many of the local names noted during this survey particularly of rattans which are only used in local market, are in consistent. Local names given here are both Dayak Lawangan and Banjar. Getah and pihikan are used inconsistently for Daemonorops didymophylla, D. fissa, D. korthalsii, and D. draco. Getah refers sap; all these rattans produce a white sap when the young stem is cut. Riwa is used for Plectocomiopsis geminiflora. It is said that the bitter tasting ‘umbut’ (or cabbage i.e. a group of very young leaves) of this species is edible as a cooked vegetable. The very similar jiwa (Plectocomiopsis mira) is said to be very poisonous. It is said that the name jiwa is taken from case a long times ago, when local people died by eating umbut of this latter species. ‘Jiwa’ means soul. Plectocomia elongata is also called jiwa. Paikat lilin is used for Calamus flabellatus and C. javensis, but is applied for very slender canes of two or three milimeter in diameter. The name ‘Pulut’ means sticky, it is applied for any smaller diameter cane which is sticky when the fresh cane is bent. The name is used for slender forms of Korthalsia rigida, Calamus flabellatus and Ceratolobus subangulatus. ‘Sembuli’ is used for Calamus erioacanthus and similar taxa namely C. pogonacanthus and C. pseudolur. Siit is used for Calamus marginatus, C. paspalanthus, and Daemonorops atra. Names consistently used for one species only are ayah pipit, dahanan, gelang, irit, manau, minung, raung, riwa, seko, talusuk, too, and tunggal (Appendix 2). ‘Dahanan’ (meaning “branched) is used for the robust form of Korthalsia rigida. It is true that K. rigida has branches, but the entire genus Korthalsia has this feature. ‘Gelang’ means bracelet, the name is used for rattan which has leaf sheaths covered by complete or partial collars and tipped with black and brown horse-hair-like spines. The “collars” form horizontal bracelets at the leaf sheath, hence it is applied for Daemonorops sabut. In Banjar language paikat gelang is bamulan, paikat getah is dendek, and paikat seko is buyung.
Most of the rattan species identified in UTA have a wide distribution in Borneo as well as outside Borneo. Most occur in lowland humid rainforests. Paikat manau (Calamus manan) as well as paikat suko (Calamus optimus) grow well in lowlands and hills up to 700 m above sea level in rather dry soil. Paikat taman (Calamus caesius) needs more humid soil close to streams. Ecological requirements such as soil type and moisture, micro climatic and light requirements for growing economic rattans species to produce high quality cane are not fully understand.