ABSTRACT
This chapter provides information on the uses, folk medicine, chemistry, germplasm, distribution, ecology, cultivation, harvesting, yields, energy, and biotic factors of Rattan Cane. Stems and branches form rattan cane of commerce, used as props for crop plants, for manufacture of furniture, baskets, wicker-work, umbrella ribs, cables, and ropes. Rattan cane is important in India and elsewhere for the manufacture of cane-bottom chairs. Many species of the large genus are used in various parts of the world for similar purposes. Rattan ropes are used for dragging heavy weights and for tethering wild animals. Scrapings from the bark of glossy-coated cane species may contain enough silica to act as an irritant to the mucous membranes. Canes should be harvested during the dry season, and dried and processed promptly. Stems scandent or climbing, very slender; to as much as 200 m long, leaf-sheaths sparingly armed with short, flat spines, glabrous.
