ຫວາຍແຍ້ / Lizard Rattan

A clustering rattan with stems up to 20 m long and 0.8 cm-1.6 cm in diameter. Leaf sheaths are 1 cm-2.5 cm diameter, green, and often striped white when freshly emerging. The needle-like spines are green with a black tip and 0.5 cm-2 cm long. The base of the spine is bent, instead of straight as it is on all other species. It has a tiny, dry ocrea with no spines or bristles and leaves 0.6 m-1 m long. Leaflets are regular with a petiole 8 cm-15 cm long. The inflorescence is 1.5 m-2.5 m long, plus a flagellum and a tubular perianth. The 1.4 cm x 0.8 cm fruit, has white or pale yellow scales, and slightly ruminate seeds. Wai nyeh grows in shrubs, often in areas which flood at altitudes of 200-300 m. It occurs everywhere in Laos, and in northeast and northern Thailand, northern Vietnam and northern Cambodia. It can also survive, localised, in scrub. Heavily used around Vientiane.