Anatomical Characteristics of Six Calamus Species of Kalimantan Barat

Abstract

The stem anatomy of six species of Calamus from Kalimantan Barat was studied to explore the anatomical character to distinguish the rattan at the species level. The Calamus species has been used as the raw material of plaited art by the indigenous people of the Dayak Iban-Desa. The anatomy character was observed from the transversal section, radial section, and maceration. The main aspect has observed from this research are epidermis, vessel, and fiber dimension. Epidermis cell type, epidermis lumen type, and the number of hypodermis layer were observed as the important character to distinguish the Calamus based on epidermis character. Type of ground parenchyma, present of the canal resin, number of protoxylems, and vessel density are the important characters based on vessel character. Fiber length and fiber wall thickness are the important characters to identify the rattan species and also to predict the quality of rattan stem. The tentative identification key to rattan species has been prepared using the combination of the anatomical character.