ຫວາຍໜາມໄຊ / Erect Stem Rattane

Description. Stems clustered, non-climbing, free-standing or sometimes leaning, to 6 m long and 5 cm diameter. Leaf sheaths dark green with dark brown hairs, with short rows of brown, flattened, to 3.5 cm long spines; ocreas present, with rows of short spines, split into two, soon falling; knees absent; flagella absent; petioles to 190 cm long, with whorls of yellow  spines; rachis to 3 m long with to 40, lanceolate leaflets per side, these regularly arranged, bristly along the margins; cirri absent. Inflorescences to 2 m long, not flagellate; bracts tubular, tattering at the apices; fruits ellipsoid, to 5 cm long and 2.5 cm diameter, greenish- or reddish-brown. Distribution and habitat. Northern and central Laos (also in Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Northeastern India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Thailand) in lowland evergreen, montane forest, or deciduous forest, usually on steep slopes, to 1,400 m elevation. Flowering and fruiting. Flowers February; fruits March, April. (M. Peters & A. Henderson, 2014).