Calamus caryotoides

Calamus caryotoides (also Palmijuncus caryotoides), more commonly known as fishtail lawyer cane is a North-East Queensland tropical forest climbing palm with very thin (12 mm [15⁄32 in]) flexible trunks; no crownshaft; small spikes; dark green, glossy, fish-tail shaped leaves reaching up to 15 m (50 ft) high (5 m [16 ft] spread); and very thin hooked flagella.[2]

Fishtail lawyer cane
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Clade: Commelinids
Order: Arecales
Family: Arecaceae
Genus: Calamus
Species:
C. caryotoides
Binomial name
Calamus caryotoides

It tends to clump and grow up into the shaded understory of Queensland's wet tropical forests, and is a close relative of the more infamous Calamus radicalis (aka Wait-a-While).[2][3]

The Cairns Botanical Gardens records local Yidinydji, Yirrganyydji, Djabuganydji, and Gungganydji use Calamus caryotoides (also known to Yidinydji as Bugul, pronounced BOOK-KOOL) as follows:

The thin flexible trunks of this (and other) climbing palm made ideal building frames, or rope and string when split. The young shoots were eaten to cure headaches.[3]

References
  1. "Calamus caryotoides". Australian Plant Name Index (APNI), IBIS database. Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian Government, Canberra. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
  2. Calamus caryotoides, palm-trees.org. Archived 2009-08-23 at the Wayback Machine Accessed 24 June 2009
  3. Cairns Botanical Gardens (no date) Aboriginal Plant Use Garden: Cairns Rainforest Region. Cairns Botanical Gardens. Cairns.


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