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Korthalsia is a clustering genus of flowering plant in the palm family Arecaceae spread throughout Southeast Asia. It is a highly specialized rattan with some species known to have an intimate relationship with ants, hence the common name ant rattan. High-climbing and armed with spines, the genus is named for the Dutch botanist Pieter Willem Korthals who first collected them in Indonesia.
Their rarity in cultivation is likely due to their extreme spininess and their particular tropical needs. The stems and sheaths are made into rope, baskets and binding in house construction, but, unlike many other rattans they are irregularly knobby and scarred, which generally excludes their use in worked and polished furniture.
The genus is concentrated around the Sunda Shelf's perhumid region with northern outliers in Indochina, the Andaman Islands and Burma east to Sulawesi and New Guinea. They are confined to low land or hilly tropical forest being conspicuously absent in mountain regions; some are narrowly limited to ultrabasic rock while others are adept at colonizing cleared forests.
Korthalsia bejaudii · Korthalsia echinometra · Korthalsia laciniosa · Korthalsia minor · Korthalsia rogersii
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Korthalsia by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
