Calamus karnatakensis Renuka & Lakshmana (PALMAE)
Description: Clustering, high climbing canes; stems to 20 m or more long. Leaves up to 1.5 m long, ecirrate; petioles up to 30 cm long; sheath yellow, lower part greenish brown or greenish yellow, brown tomentose when young, densely spiny, spines ca 2.5 cm long, mouth of sheath with spines up to 4 cm long; knee conspicuous; ocrea up to 6 cm long, with small spines; leaflets more or less equidistant, ca 50 x 2.5 cm, 3-veined, veins and margins spinulose, terminal pair united basally. Inflorescence long, long flagellate. The fruits are roughly 8 mm in diameter and globose. They feature scales organized in 19 rows, with a yellow hue and chestnut brown margins, turning a light violet color when ripe. The endosperm is non-ruminate.
Flowering : December – January.
Fruiting : April – May.
Distribution: India: In evergreen forests of Western Ghats between 530 – 1200 m. Karnataka. Endemic.
Uses: Used in furniture industry.