ຫວາຍບຸ່ນຫວານ / Sweet Rattan

Stems clustered, climbing (sometimes only shortly climbing or free-standing), to 40 m long and 10 cm diameter. Leaf sheaths green, yellowish-green, or reddish-brown, with densely arranged, oblique rows of glossy, black or brown, flattened, to 4 cm long (to 10 cm long at sheath apices) spines; ocreas elongate, with rows of spines, bristly at the apices; knees inconspicuous or absent; flagella present, to 5 m long; petioles to 80 cm long; with rings of spines on upper surfaces; rachis to 2.7 m long with 27-74, linear leaflets per side, these regularly arranged and spreading in the same plane (young plants regularly
arranged but with gaps, rarely plants with irregularly arranged leaflets spreading in different planes), bristly on veins of upper and lower surfaces; cirri absent. Inflorescences to 10 m long, flagellate; bracts tubular; fruits globose, ellipsoid, or ovoid, to 1.4 cm long and 0.8 cm diameter, reddish or yellowish. Distribution and habitat. Northern and central Laos and Vietnam (also in China) in lowland evergreen or montane forest at 20-1,850 m elevation. Flowering and fruiting. Flowers April-May; fruits April-May, July, October-November. (M. Peters & A. Henderson, 2014).