Calamus thwaitesii Becc. & Hook. f. (PALMAE)
= C. thwaitesii Becc. var. canarana Becc.
Common names
Kannada: Hanid betha.
Malayalam: Pannichural, Vandichural, Thatiyanchural.
Tamil: Thadiperambu.
Description: Vigorous, grouped in clusters, and capable of climbing to considerable heights, the stems can reach lengths of up to 20 meters or even more. Leaves up to 3 m long, ecirrate; petioles up to 35 cm long, yellowish, spiny; rachis yellowish, spiny; leaf sheath yellow, densely spiny, spines arising from a raised, rim-like surface, flat, up to 3 x 0.7 cm, black with yellow base; knee and ocrea absent; flagellum up to 9 m long; leaflets irregularly distributed or in groups of 2 or 3-linear-lanceolate, up to 80 x 45 cm with bristles along margins and upper side of midvein. Inflorescence up to 6 m long, flagellate; flowers in male distichous. Fruits ovoid, beaked, ca 2 x 1.3 cm; scales in 12 vertical rows, channeled along the middle, yellow with deep brown margins. Endosperm not ruminate.
Flowering : November – January.
Fruiting : February – May.
Distribution: India: Almost throughout Western Ghats in evergreen, semi-evergreen and moist deciduous forest up to 900 m. Goa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
Sri Lanka.
Uses: Because of its bigger girth, strength and other qualities it is being used for making legs of chairs, tables, cots etc. It is also being used for construction of suspension bridges and for making walking-sticks, lathis, tool handles etc.
