ຫວາຍກະເທີຍ / Ladyboy Rattan

Description. Stems clustered or sometimes solitary, climbing, to 20 m long and 10 cm diameter. Leaf sheaths brown with brownish hairs, with rows of brown, needle-like, to 2.5 cm long spines encircling the sheath; ocreas absent; knees absent; flagella absent; petioles to 15 cm long; rachis to 1.5 m long with 25-30 lanceolate leaflets per side, these clustered and spreading in different planes, green on the lower surfaces, usually attached by short stalks, with elongate, thread-like apices, without prominent submarginal veins and minutely spiny on the margins; cirri present, to 1 m long. Inflorescences to 0.8 m long; flowering branch bracts densely hairy on outer surfaces; fruits globose, to 1.5 cm diameter; fruit scales yellowish-brown, fringed, without bristly, erect apices. Distribution and habitat. Northern Laos (also in Bhutan, China, India, Nepal, and Thailand) in montane forest at 1,500-2,500 m elevation. (M. Peters & A. Henderson, 2014).