ຫວາຍລາວ / Lao Rattan

Description. Stems clustered, climbing, to 25 m long and 3.5 cm diameter. Leaf sheaths green with reddish-brown hairs, with short or long, oblique rows of needle-like, yellowish-brown, to 5 cm long spines; ocreas  absent; knees absent; flagella absent; petioles to 30 cm long; rachis to 2.1 m long with 15-26, lanceolate leaflets per side, these irregularly arranged in clusters and spreading in different planes, sometimes with small spines on the margins; cirri present, to 1.5 m long. Inflorescences to 0.75 m long; fruits depressed globose, to 2.5 cm long and 3 cm diameter, greenish; fruit scales minute. Distribution and habitat. Cambodia, central Laos, and Southern Vietnam in Binh Thuan (Nui Ong N. R.) and Dong Nai (Cat Tien N. P.) (also in Myanmar, Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, Sumatra) in lowland evergreen forest, usually at forest margins or in disturbed places at 150-224 m elevation. Flowering and fruiting. flowers May; fruits May. (M. Peters & A. Henderson, 2014).