Guía taxonómica de Bambués y Ratanes

This book contains a global checklist of all known species of bamboos and rattans. It is an authoritative source of information on accepted species of bamboos and rattans, the correct names that should be applied to them, and the incorrect names that should not be used. It has been compiled from expert data sources, edited extensively by the authors, with additional contributions from numerous reviewers. Together with the accompanying World Atlas of Bamboos and Rattans, it serves as a fundamental biodiversity resource for anybody with an interest in bamboos and rattans.

The taxonomic information presented here is a result of cumulative scientific research into the diversity and evolutionary history of the grass family Poaceae (which includes bamboos) and the palm family Arecaceae (which includes rattans), brought together into a single database called the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. The printed checklist presented here will be out-of-date as soon as it is published, but the World Checklist will continue to be updated as new information leads to changes. The data are available in searchable format via the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families web site at http://apps.kew.org/wcsp.

Rattans

Plectocomiopsis mira

photo by: John Dransfield

Rattans are spiny climbing palms that belong to subfamily Calamoideae of the palm family. The genera concerned are Calamus, Eremospatha, Korthalsia, Laccosperma, Myrialepis, Oncocalamus, Plectocomia and Plectocomiopsis. Eremospatha, Laccosperma and Oncocalamus are restricted to Africa, while the remaining genera are distributed through the Asia-Pacific region (with the exception of one African species of Calamus). Calamus is the largest genus of palms and, as circumscribed here, includes the genera Ceratolobus, Daemonorops, Pogonotium and Retispatha, which were recently placed in synonymy with Calamus (Baker 2015, Henderson & Floda 2015). Several climbing palms, which also display the rattan growth form, occur in subfamily Arecoideae. The neotropical genus Desmoncus consists entirely of climbing palms while the large genera Chamaedorea (primarily central America) and Dypsis (primarily Madagascar) contain one and two climbing species respectively. In total, 11 genera and 631 species, subspecies and varieties of rattan and rattan-like palm are included in this checklist. For further general information on palms, including rattans, see Dransfield et al. (2008). In depth information on rattan diversity can be found in the following references: Baja- Lapis (2010), Dransfield (1979, 1984, 1992, 1997), Dransfield & Manokaran (1994), Evans et al. (2001, 2002), Henderson (2009, 2011), Sunderland (2012).

Desmoncus polyacanthos / Colombia

Photo by William J. Baker

Oncocalamus mannii / Camerún

Photo by John Dransfield

Calamus dasyacanthus / Indonesia

Photo by William J. Baker