Economic Botany Volume 61(1) Economic Vol

Contents Economic Botany Volume 61(1) Economic Vol. 61 No. 1 Research Articles 1 Declaration of Kaua‘i Spring 2007 Peter Raven, Sir Ghillean Prance, and others 3 The Rattan Trade of Northern Myanmar: Species, Supplies, Botany and Sustainability Charles M. Peters, Andrew Henderson, U Myint Maung, U Saw Lwin, U Tin Maung Ohn, U Kyaw Lwin, and U Tun Shaung Devoted to Past, Present, and Future Uses of Plants by People 14 A Potential Antioxidant Resource: Endophytic Fungi from Medicinal Plants Wu-Yang Huang, Yi-Zhong Cai, Jie Xing, Harold Corke, and Mei Sun Agrobiodiversity Change in a Saharan Desert Oasis, 31 Spring 2007 ¥ pp. 1Ð108 no. 1, Vol. 61, ¥ BOTANY ECONOMIC 1919–2006: Historic Shifts in Tasiwit (Berber) and Bedouin Crop Inventories of Siwa, Egypt Gary Paul Nabhan 44 Allozymic, Morphological, Phenological, Linguistic, Plant Use, and Nutritional Data of Benincasa hispida (Cucurbitaceae) Kendrick L. Marr, Yong-Mei Xia, and Nirmal K. Bhattarai 60 Describing Maize (Zea mays L.) Landrace Persistence in the Bajío of Mexico: A Survey of 1940s and 1950s Collection Locations K. J. Chambers, S. B. Brush, M. N. Grote, and P. Gepts 73 Ethnobotany and Effects of Harvesting on the Population Ecology of Syngonanthus nitens (Bong.) Ruhland (Eriocaulaceae), a NTFP from Jalapão Region, Central Brazil Isabel Belloni Schmidt, Isabel Benedetti Figueiredo, and Aldicir Scariot 86 One Hundred Years of Echinacea angustifolia Harvest in the Smoky Hills of Kansas, USA Dana M. Price and Kelly Kindscher Notes on Economic 96 Changes in Size Preference of Illegally Extracted Heart of Palm Plants from Euterpe precatoria (Arecaceae) in Braulio Carrillo National Park, Costa Rica Gerardo Avalos Departments 99 Book Reviews

Gung Aung’s elephant Aung Bu carries rattan (the elusive Plectocomia assamica Griff.) out of a forest in northern Myanmar, beginning its journey through a global market. See the article by Charles Peters et al. on page 3.

Published for The Society for Economic Botany by The New York Botanical Garden Press Issued 30 March 2007 31371_U00.qxd 3/15/07 10:48 AM Page i

Contents Economic Botany Volume 61 (1)

Research Articles 1 Declaration of Kaua‘i Peter Raven, Sir Ghillean Prance, and others 3 The Rattan Trade of Northern Myanmar: Species, Supplies, and Sustainability Charles M. Peters, Andrew Henderson, U Myint Maung, U Saw Lwin, U Tin Maung Ohn, U Kyaw Lwin, and U Tun Shaung 14 A Potential Antioxidant Resource: Endophytic Fungi from Medicinal Plants Wu-Yang Huang, Yi-Zhong Cai, Jie Xing, Harold Corke, and Mei Sun 31 Agrobiodiversity Change in a Saharan Desert Oasis, 1919–2006: Historic Shifts in Tasiwit (Berber) and Bedouin Crop Inventories of Siwa, Egypt Gary Paul Nabhan 44 Allozymic, Morphological, Phenological, Linguistic, Plant Use, and Nutritional Data of Benincasa hispida (Cucurbitaceae) Kendrick L. Marr, Yong-Mei Xia, and Nirmal K. Bhattarai 60 Describing Maize (Zea mays L.) Landrace Persistence in the Bajío of Mexico: A Survey of 1940s and 1950s Collection Locations K. J. Chambers, S. B. Brush, M. N. Grote, and P. Gepts 73 Ethnobotany and Effects of Harvesting on the Population Ecology of Syngonanthus nitens (Bong.) Ruhland (Eriocaulaceae), a NTFP from Jalapão Region, Central Brazil Isabel Belloni Schmidt, Isabel Benedetti Figueiredo, and Aldicir Scariot 86 One Hundred Years of Echinacea angustifolia Harvest in the Smoky Hills of Kansas, USA Dana M. Price and Kelly Kindscher Notes on Economic 96 Changes in Size Preference of Illegally Extracted Heart of Palm Plants from Euterpe precatoria (Arecaceae) in Braulio Carrillo National Park, Costa Rica Gerardo Avalos Departments 99 Book Reviews 31371_U02.qxd 3/15/07 10:51 AM Page 3

The Rattan Trade of Northern Myanmar: Species, Supplies, and Sustainability1 Charles M. Peters2,*, Andrew Henderson3, U Myint Maung4, U Saw Lwin5, U Tin Maung Ohn6, U Kyaw Lwin7, and U Tun Shaung8

2 Kate E. Tode Curator of Botany, Institute of Economic Botany, The New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY 10458 3 Curator, Institute of Systematic Botany, The New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY 10458 4 Park Warden, Myanmar Forest Department, Hukaung Tiger Reserve, Tanai, Kachin State, Myanmar 5 Myanmar Horticulturist Association, Yangon, Myanmar 6 Associate Professor, Department of Botany, University of Yangon, Yangon, Myanmar 7 Assistant Lecturer, Kalay University, Kalay, Sagaing Division, Myanmar 8 Media Assistant, Wildlife Conservation Society, Myanmar Program, Yangon, Myanmar * Corresponding author; e-mail: [email protected]

The Rattan Trade of Northern Myanmar: Species, Supplies, and Sustainability. Although Myanmar exports millions of dollars of rattan cane each year, the last systematic treatment of rattans in this country was done over 100 years ago, and virtually nothing has been writ- ten about the collection and trade of this important forest resource. Here we report the results from a study of rattans in the Hukaung Valley Tiger Reserve in northern Myanmar. A total of 15 species of rattan were encountered; seven species are new records for Myanmar and two species are new to science. Inventory transects revealed that the density of commercial rattans in local forests averages 40.5 canes ≥ 4 m long/hectare. Populations of all species appear to be actively regenerating. The current pattern of rattan exploitation, however, is largely uncontrolled and will eventually lead to resource depletion unless some form of management is implemented. Key Words: Myanmar, Hukaung Valley, rattan, sustainable harvesting, non-timber forest products.

Rattans are spiny climbing palms native to the Of special interest in this regard is Myanmar. Old World tropics. The long ﬂexible stem, or Unlike many neighboring countries where the cane, from these palms forms the basis of a thriv- local rattans are relatively well-studied, e.g., Lao ing international industry, currently worth about PDR (Evans et al. 2001; Evans et al. 2002), 6.5 billion dollars a year (ITTO 1997). Most of China (Pei et al. 1991; Yin and Zeng 1997), the cane entering world trade originates from Thailand (Hodel 1998), and India (Renuka Southeast Asia, and is collected, with few excep- 1992, 1995; Basu 1992), the last systematic treat- tions, from wild populations. Although Indonesia ment of rattans in Myanmar was done over 130 and Malaysia are the largest commercial produc- years ago (Kurz 1874). A review of major ers of rattan (Manokaran 1990), several other herbaria throughout the world reveals only 63 countries in the region export millions of dollars rattan specimens from Myanmar (Henderson and worth of rattan each year (INBAR 2004). Peters, unpublished). This lack of information is especially noteworthy given that Myanmar contains over half of all the remaining forest in main- 1 Received 29 September 2006; accepted 26 Novem- land Southeast Asia (FAO 1997). ber 2006. What we are presented with in Myanmar is a

4 ECONOMIC BOTANY [VOL. 61

96° 97°

Myanmar India Namyun 27° 1 2 3 4 5 Shimbweyeng 6 7 8 Tar o n g 9 Makaw Tanaing Kachin State HukuangHukuang TigerTiger ReserveReserve 10

26° Warazug

Sagaing Division

Myitkyina China Namti

Fig. 1. Location of the Hukaung Tiger Reserve in northern Myanmar. Ledo Road is shown as bold line. Tri- angles represent rattan inventory sites.

vast expanse of forest that contains an undefined Road (bold line shown in Fig. 1), a 765 km quantity of an extremely valuable plant resource jungle track built by the Allies at the end of about which virtually nothing is known. As a first World War II to move supplies between India step to remedy this situation, a systematic survey and China. The road was largely abandoned after of rattans was conducted in the Hukaung Valley the war, many of the bridges washed out, and it is Tiger Reserve of northern Myanmar in early currently passable only from November to March 2005. The objective of the survey was to docu- during the dry season. ment the diversity and abundance of rattans The Ledo Road served as the main axis of the within the reserve, to assess the local rattan trade, rattan survey. As is shown in Fig. 1, the survey and to describe the structure, regeneration status, team started at Namyun in the northeastern cor- and potential for sustainable management of wild ner of the reserve and proceeded south toward rattan populations. Tanaing, making base camps every 10–15 km at different elevations and substrates to collect rat- Survey Route and Methods tans and conduct ecological fieldwork. At each The Hukaung Valley Tiger Reserve (HKVTR) site, the local rattans were sampled quantitatively is located in Kachin State and the Sagaing Divi- using 10 m wide transects composed of contigu- sion of northwestern Myanmar near the border ous 10 × 20 m sample plots. All rattan species in with India (Fig. 1). The reserve, which comprises each plot were identified, measured for height, a large lowland plain and the foothills of the and recorded. If it was not possible to determine Patkai and Kumon mountain ranges to the the taxonomic identity of a rattan in the field, a northwest and southeast, respectively, extends temporary morpho-species name was assigned. over 21,000 km2 of evergreen forest. It is the For ceaspitose or clumped species, the height of largest tiger reserve, and one of the largest tracts the clump was recorded and the number of indi- of protected forest, in the world. The main access vidual stems counted on a subsample of plants. to the Hukaung Valley is provided by the Ledo Replicate herbarium specimens were collected 31371_U02.qxd 3/15/07 10:51 AM Page 5

2007] PETERS ET AL.: THE RATTAN TRADE OF MYANMAR 5

for each new rattan species encountered with lands of the Myeik Archipelago in the flowers or fruit, both in and out of the transect Tanintharyi Division, the Ponnyadaung Range in plots. Voucher specimens were deposited at Yan- the western part of the Sagaing Division, and al- gon University (RANG), the Myanmar Forest most any forested region in Shan State are all Herbarium at Yesin (RAF), Mandalay University promising rattan habitats that have yet to be col- (ASM), and The New York Botanical Garden lected. Assuming that all of the taxa listed by (NY). Kress et al. (2003) actually occur in Myanmar, To gather information about commercial har- there are at least 42 species of rattan in this coun- vesting and the local rattan trade in northern try. Myanmar, interviews were conducted with the There is much variability in the local names owners of Three Red Stars Co., Ltd., and Khin used for rattans in northern Myanmar. Although Sow Trading Co., both major rattan traders in the generic name for all cane is “kyein,” a given Myitkyina, as well as with the Director of the species may be called by several different names Kachin State Forest Department. An assortment depending on the locale and ethnic group, and the of rattan collectors, buyers, truck drivers, and same common name may be used to describe sev- local Kachin, Naga, and Lisu villagers were also eral different species. Rather than a one-to-one consulted about the collection and sale of rattan correspondence, most common names for rattan in northern Myanmar. seem to refer to broad groups of species defined by their morphological characteristics or habitat re- Results quirements. For example, “ye-kyein” includes several species that tolerate swampy conditions or Rattan Species grow in low-lying habitats, while “taung kyein” Published checklists suggest that there are from refers to any rattan that grows in the mountains. 20 to 37 rattan species in Myanmar distributed Similarly, “kyet-u kyein” is applied to several among five genera. Lace’s (1912) original list in- different species of light-colored, small cane rattan. cludes 20 species of Calamus, two species of Plec- tocomiopsis, and one species each of Korthalsia, Production and Trade Daemonorops, and Plectocomia. Seventy-five years The first steps toward developing a rattan in- later, the Forestry Department’s (1987) list industry in Myanmar were taken in 1970 when the cludes 25 species of Calamus, three species of Ministry of Forestry opened several rattan pur- Korthalsia, and two species each of Daemonorops, chasing centers in Kachin State and Tanintharyi Plectocomia, and Plectocomiopsis, while Hundley Division and subsequently exported 15 tons of and Chit Ko Ko (1987), also from the Forest De- rattan cane to Singapore (Win Myint 2004). The partment, report 27 species of Calamus and four local rattan trade continued to grow over the next species of Korthalsia in Myanmar that same year. two decades, and by the early 1990s Myanmar The recent checklist produced by Kress et al. was exporting an average of 12,000 metric tons (2003) mirrors the 1987 Forestry Department list of rattan each year valued at over 3.6 million dol- with the exception that one species of Plectocomia lars (INBAR 2004). The great majority of this has been dropped. Given that none of these com- material, i.e. over 95%, is sold to China. pilations are specimen based and that much of Annual production data for rattan in Myan- the nomenclature is outdated, it is hard to assess mar from 1991 to 2003 are shown in Fig. 2. In how well these lists of names reflect what’s actu- addition to totals for the entire country (his- ally in the forest. togram), production data for Kachin State and The collection results from the Hukaung Val- Sagaing Division are also graphed (line plot) to ley rattan survey are shown in Table 1. A total of show the relative contribution of northern Myan- 15 rattan species were encountered along the mar. In terms of total rattan production, there is Ledo Road, and half of them are harvested com- a notable drop in the amount of rattan collected mercially. Seven of the species are new records for after 1996. An average of 60.3 million rattans Myanmar; two of the species are new to science. canes per year were collected during the interval Based on these results, additional assessments in from 1991 to 1996, while less than a third of this other areas of the country would undoubtedly re- quantity was collected in subsequent years. Al- veal that Myanmar contains a higher diversity of though the abrupt drop in 1997 is undoubtedly a rattan than previously thought. The limestone is- reflection of the economic crisis that occurred 31371_U02.qxd 3/15/07 10:51 AM Page 6

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Table 1. Rattan species recorded in Hukaung Valley Tiger Reserve, northern Myanmar. Species reported as new records are not included in Kress et al. (2003).

Species Local Name Voucher Notes Calamus Henderson et al. Noncommercial; new record for Myanmar acanthospathus Griff. 3151 NY* Calamus erectus thaing kyein Henderson et al. Noncommercial Roxb. 3137 NY Calamus flagellum myauk chi kyein Henderson et al. Noncommercial; cane is brittle and splits Griff. (monkey dung cane) 3146 NY easily; new record for Myanmar Calamus floribundus ye-kyein (water cane) Henderson et al. Important commercial species; used for Griff. 3177 NY tying log rafts; split cane used for making furniture, handicrafts, and household utensils Calamus gracilis kyet-u kyein (chicken Henderson et al. Commercial species, popular with foreign Roxb. egg cane) 3140 NY traders; can be split very fine and has few nodes; used for making furniture; quality similar to that of sega (C. caesius Bl.) cane Calamus guruba kyein-ni (red cane) Henderson et al. Commercial species with reddish sheath; Buch.-Ham 3118 NY split cane used for making furniture; used for tying teak logs to make rafts Calamus henryanus taung kyein Henderson et al. Noncommercial; new record for Becc. (mountain cane) 3158 NY Myanmar Calamus leptospadix Henderson et al. Noncommercial; new record for Myanmar Griff. 3165 NY Calamus cf. kadin Henderson et al. Important commercial species; heavily nambariensis Becc. 3143 NY exploited in Hukaung Valley; large cane; new record for Myanmar Calamus palustris yamata Henderson et al. Important commercial species resilient Griff. 3128 NY and durable, large cane; similar to C. manan Miq.; used for framing furniture and making household utensils Calamus sp. nov. htin phu Henderson et al. Noncommercial; stems split and 3125 NY used locally for weaving; new species Calamus sp. nov. Henderson et al. Noncommercial; new species 3174 NY Calamus tenuis Roxb. ye-kyein (water cane) Henderson et al. Commercial species; split cane used for 3173 NY making furniture, mats, and baskets; heavily exploited Calamus cf. wailong taung kyein Henderson et al. Commercial species; used for furniture S.J Pei & S.Y. Chen (mountain cane) 3155 NY and basketry; new record for Myanmar Plectocomia assamica sin kyein (elephant cane) Henderson et al. Noncommercial; massive cane occasionally Griff. 3152 NY used to make bed frames and other large items of furniture *Herbarium labels for the voucher specimens contained the names of all seven members of the survey team: A. Henderson, C. Peters, U Myint Maung, U Saw Lwin, U Tin Maung Ohn, U Kyaw Lwin, and U Tun Shaung.

throughout Asia during this year, the inability of canes/year, rather than continually declined, sug- the Myanmar rattan trade to return to previous gests that economic policies and structural im- production levels in later years suggests that other pediments may be more to blame. factors are at work here. Excessive harvesting and The production data shown for northern resource shortage may be partially responsible for Myanmar follows the same general pattern as the this pattern, but the fact that production levels national average and usually represent about half have consistently averaged about 20 million of all of the rattan harvested in the country (Fig. 31371_U02.qxd 3/15/07 10:51 AM Page 7

2007] PETERS ET AL.: THE RATTAN TRADE OF MYANMAR 7

80 All Myanmar

Kachin State + Sagaing Division

40 Rattan Canes (millions) 30

0 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 Years Fig. 2. Annual production data for rattan in Myanmar. Line plot shows production totals for Kachin State and Sagaing Division in northern Myanmar (adapted from data presented in Win Myint 2004).

2). The line for the northern region, however, de- villagers for subsistence use is unregulated in viates from this trend during the period from Myanmar, while commercial collection requires a 1993 to 1995, when there was a notable drop in license from the Forest Department. These li- the number of rattan canes harvested. This drop censes are granted based on productivity “targets” in productivity may have been caused by the po- that have been established for different regions litical instability that characterized the region dur- and species. Last year, for example, the official ing these years. With the exception of the major government target for the entire country was towns and railroad corridor, Kachin State has 23.4 million canes, with 4.2 and 2.5 million cane been virtually independent from Myanmar since targets for Kachin State and Sagaing Division, re- the early 1960s due to the activities of the Kachin spectively (Forest Department 2005). Given the Independence Army (KIA). Increasingly violent lack of available inventory data about wild rattan clashes between the KIA and the Myanmar army populations and the existing taxonomic difficul- came to a head in 1994 when the army launched ties with many local species, it is unclear how a major offensive and seized the local jade mines these targets are actually derived. Once a license which were a major source of funding for the in- has been granted, commercial collectors are re- surgency (Smith 1999). A cease-fire agreement quired to pay a tax on each rattan cane harvested with the government was signed shortly thereafter, equal to about 25% of the prevailing market and the improved security and access to local price for the resource. forests undoubtedly stimulated rattan harvesting. Given the bad road conditions, the prevalence The low-level, sporadic collection of rattan by of malaria, and the difficulty of drying cane dur- 31371_U02.qxd 3/15/07 10:51 AM Page 8

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Fig. 3. Rattan collectors in the Hukaung Tiger Reserve, northern Myanmar. Top left. Stockpiling rattan canes in a forest landing. Top right. Tying rattan into bundles of 30 canes. Bottom. Trucks on the Ledo Road loaded with canes for transport out of the reserve. 31371_U02.qxd 3/15/07 10:51 AM Page 9

2007] PETERS ET AL.: THE RATTAN TRADE OF MYANMAR 9

ing the rainy season, the harvest of rattan in the an average of 40.5 canes ≥ 4 m long/ ha; Calamus Hukaung Valley is limited to a brief four-month cf. nambariensis and C. gracilis were the most period during the dry season. If the rattan is abundant commercial species with 17.5 and 12.2 abundant and accessible, a collector can report- canes ≥ 4 m long/ha., respectively. It is important edly harvest up to 30 canes/day; the normal rate to note that these density data are all from forests is about 15 canes/day. After collection, the cane is that are being actively harvested. transported to a landing (Fig 3A), usually located Population data for commercial species that in- near the road and the camp where the collectors clude seedlings and pre–merchantable canes pro- stay, where it is trimmed and tied into bundles of vide a useful assessment of what future supplies 30 canes (Fig. 3B). Once a sufficient quantity of of rattan in the Hukaung Valley might look like. rattan has been collected, the material is loaded Size-class diagrams for five commercial species are into trucks (Fig. 3C) for transport out of the presented in Fig. 4; a separate diagram for tran- Hukaung Valley. Each of the five trucks shown in sect 2 is also included to contrast the distribu- Fig. 3 is carrying 100 bundles of Calamus cf. tions of commercial and noncommercial species nambariensis cane (3,000 canes total). The collec- and illustrate the population impacts of harvest- tors had been harvesting and stockpiling this rat- ing. The histograms for each species were con- tan for almost three months. structed using the results from all transects and The great majority of the rattan cane collected then adjusting the totals to a per hectare basis. in the Hukaung Valley is sent to Myitkyina where Several points of interest are apparent in Fig. 4. it must be processed and dried before it can be First, the population structure of all commercial exported. The most common form of processing species exhibits an inverse J-shaped distribution is to soak the green cane in boiling diesel for in which there are exponentially more small about 20 minutes to kill insect pests, brush it plants than large plants. Although total popula- with sawdust, and then spread it out to cure in tion size varies greatly from one species to the the sun. Sodium hydroxide is occasionally used to next, all of the rattans appear to be actively regen- bleach the cane of some species, e.g. C. palustris. erating themselves. Second, there is a notable re- The processed material is then trucked to the duction in the number of canes in the mer- China where it is carefully inspected, weighed, chantable size classes, i.e. ≥ 4 m tall, of all and sold. commercial species, this pattern clearly reflecting Conversations with rattan buyers and collec- the selective mortality of commercial harvesting. tors inevitably ended with a comment about how Finally, as is shown in the histogram from tran- rattan production had been declining in recent sect 2, noncommercial species have an obvious years. Buyers felt that it was getting harder and competitive advantage when growing with com- harder to motivate people to collect rattan, as mercial species. Noncommercial species—mostly more money could be made working in local C. flagellum in this case—exhibit the greatest gold mines. Collectors thought that rattan sup- number of individuals in all size classes, and the plies were diminishing, and several reminisced marketable classes are almost exclusively occupied about the old days when it was possible to find by these taxa. That said, transect 2 was esta- canes over 200 m long. There was a general con- blished behind the landing shown in Fig. 3, sensus among all parties that there used to be a where collectors had been harvesting C. cf. nam- lot more rattan in the Hukaung Valley than there bariensis cane for almost three months, and there is now. were still 50 merchantable canes per hectare recorded in the inventory. There may indeed be Current Supplies of Rattan less rattan in Hukaung Valley than there used to The results from the inventory transects re- be, but there is still a lot of harvestable cane in vealed that the current density of harvestable rat- the forest. tan in the Hukaung Valley ranges from 15 to 2515 canes ≥ 4 m long/ha with an average density Potential for Sustainable Use of 396.1 canes ≥ 4 m long/ha (Table 2). Although The persistence of commercial rattan in north- the largest number of canes was recorded in a ern Myanmar after decades of intensive exploita- lowland, seasonally-flooded site, rattan density tion seems to be the result of both ecological and was not related to either elevation or latitude. In market factors. From an ecological perspective, all terms of commercial species, local forests contain of the rattan populations surveyed appear to be 31371_U02.qxd 3/15/07 10:51 AM Page 10

10 ECONOMIC BOTANY [VOL. 61 70 75 25 20 33 15 5 55 41 m transect in the Hukaung Valley Tiger Reserve, Myanmar. Reserve, Tiger Valley m transect in the Hukaung 200 Transect No. Transect × 10 821 610 550 510 220 190 200 285 m long) rattan canes recorded in canes recorded rattan m long) 30 2 50 40 85 595 11 29 45 8 2415 240 4.0 ≥ 1 234 56 789 10 10 10 35 2 1040 880 E96°13' E96°12' E96°12' E96°12' E96°12' E96°13' E96°11' E96°13' E96°39' E96°43' . ( Number of marketable . wailong nambariensis 2 cf cf sp. nov. 15 C. P. assamica C. henryanus C. C. palustris C. C. ﬂagellum C. ﬂoribundus C. gracilis species TOTALS: All rattansCommercial 35 20 710 85 15 2 29 — 40 40 140 85 60 15 107 58 2515 100 310 — Location N26°54' N26°52' N26°51' N26°49' N26°47' N26°45' N26°43' N26°41' N26°30' N26°03' Species Table Table as canes/hectare. expressed are Density values (m) Elevation 31371_U02.qxd 3/15/07 10:51 AM Page 11

2007] PETERS ET AL.: THE RATTAN TRADE OF MYANMAR 11

100 750 Calamus gracilis Calamus cf.nambariensis N=150 N=865 75 500 50 250 25

0 0 500 200 Calamus palustris Calamus cf. wailong N=434 N=157 375 150

250 100

125 50

Number of Canes/Ha 0 0 450 800 Calamus ﬂoribundus Transect 2 Commercial N=787 Non-commercial 600 300 400 150 200

0 0 < 1123456+ < 1123456+ Height Class (m) Height Class (m) Fig. 4. Size-class histograms for populations of ﬁve commercial rattan species in the Hukaung Tiger Reserve, northern Myanmar. Data represent pooled results from all transects. Histogram at lower right shows the distribution of commercial and noncommercial species in transect 2.

recruiting enough new seedlings each year to re- smaller-size classes if the population is given suffi- place the mortality of the adult canes harvested. cient time to recover. This is an encouraging finding, because it sug- In terms of the compatibility of commercial gests that the local rattans have yet to be irrepara- rattan harvesting and tiger conservation, it is im- bly overexploited. Of even greater long-term important to note that the great majority of the rat- portance, however, is the simple reality that no tan harvested from the Hukaung Valley Tiger Re- one wants to buy a rattan cane that is less than serve comes from a 1.0 to 3.0 km strip on either 4 m long. Collectors sweep through the forest side of the Ledo Road. The current price of rat- and selectively removed only the largest canes of a tan is simply not high enough to motivate collec- given species, which, in most cases, represents less tors to go further into the forest. Relative to the than 5% of the total number of stems in that total size of the reserve, the area from which rat- population. This material will subsequently be re- tan is harvested is actually quite small. This same plenished by the growth of individuals in the area experiences frequent human traffic and is 31371_U02.qxd 3/15/07 10:51 AM Page 12

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composed of forest that has been disturbed to fice, and Dr. Alan Rabinowitz and Dr. Josh Gins- varying degrees—a very productive habitat for berg from WCS New York. A warm thank-you to rattan, but not for many of the animal species all members of the survey team including field as- protected in the reserve. Operationally, the tigers sistants, cooking crew, and elephant handlers. Fi- and the rattan collectors seem have chosen to ex- nancial support was provided by the Committee ploit different habitats in the Hukaung Valley. for Research and Exploration of the National Ge- ographic Society and the Center for Environmen- Conclusions tal Research and Conservation (CERC) at Co- The forests of northern Myanmar contain an lumbia University. abundance of rattan resources with great potential for sustainable use. The current pattern of Literature Cited rattan exploitation, however, is largely uncon- Basu, S. 1992. Rattans (canes) in India. A mono- trolled and will eventually lead to resource deple- graphic revision. Rattan Information Center, Kuala tion unless some form of management is imple- Lumpur, Malaysia. mented. To avoid this depletion, management Evans, T., K. Sengdala, O. Viengham, and B. Tham- activities should be initiated while natural popu- mavong. 2001. A field guide to the rattans of Lao lations of important commercial species are still PDR. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. ———, K. Sengdala, B. Thammavong, O. Viengham, intact and actively regenerating. and J. Dransfield. 2002. A synopsis of the rattans The results from the present study suggest two (Arecaceae: Calamoideae) of Laos and neighboring options for the sustainable management of rattan parts of Indochina. Kew Bulletin 57:1–84. in the Hukaung Valley. The first option would be FAO. 1997. State of the world’s forests, 1997. Food the controlled exploitation of natural rattan pop- and Agriculture Organization of the United Na- ulations along designated sections of the Ledo tions, Rome. Road. The amount of rattan removed each year Forestry Department. 1987. Bamboo and canes in from these populations should be based on reli- Burma. Superintendent of Government Printing, able harvest quotas derived from periodic inven- Rangoon. tories and yield studies of all commercial species Forestry Department. 2005. Annual report. State Peace and Development Council, Yangon. (sensu Peters 1996). Enrichment treatments could Hodel, D. 1998. The palms and cycads of Thailand. be employed as necessary to increase the abun- Allen Press, Lawrence, Kansas. dance of particularly valuable species. The second Hundley, H. G., and Chit Ko Ko. 1987. List of trees, option would involve the cultivation of selected shrubs, herbs, and principal climbers, etc. recorded commercial species in small-scale agroforestry sys- from Burma. Fourth Revised Edition. Superinten- tems at the village level. Cultivation efforts dent of Government Printing and Stationary, Ra- should start small by initiating limited demon- goon. stration plantings in a few communities. INBAR. 2004. Online database on bamboo and rattan In each case, management activities offer an trade (http://www.inbar.int/trade/main.asp). Inter- opportunity to increase local livelihoods, to con- national Network for Bamboo and Rattan, Beijing, P.R. China. serve the rattan resource, and, perhaps most im- ITTO. 1997. Bamboo and rattan: Resources for the portantly, to more closely engage local communi- 21st century? Tropical Forest Update, Vol. 7, No. 4. ties in the stewardship of the Hukaung Valley International Tropical Timber Organization. Tiger Reserve. The next phase of our rattan re- Kress, J. R., R. A. DeFilipps, E. Farr, and Daw Yin Yin search in Myanmar will specifically address the Kyi. 2003. A checklist of the trees, shrubs, herbs, issue of community management and sustainable and climbers of Myanmar. Contributions from the harvesting. U.S. National Herbarium 45:1–590. Kurz, S. 1874. Enumeration of Burmese palms. Jour- Acknowledgments nal of the Asiatic Society, Bengal 43:191–218. The authors would especially like to thank the Lace, J. H. 1912. List of trees, shrubs, and principal climbers, etc. Recorded from Burma. Superinten- Myanmar Forest Department for granting per- dent of Government Printing, Rangoon. mission to conduct the rattan survey. The Manokaran, N. 1990. The state of the bamboo and Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) played a rattan trade. Rattan Information Centre Occasional key role in developing the research, and we grate- Paper No. 7, Rattan Information Centre, Forest fully acknowledge the support of U Than Myint Research Institute of Malaysia, Kepong. and U Saw Tun Khaing in the WCS Yangon of- Pei, S. J., S. Y. Chen, and S. Q. Tong. 1991. Palmae. 31371_U02.qxd 3/15/07 10:51 AM Page 13

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Flora Repubblicae Popularis Sinicae 13(1). Science Smith, M. 1999. Burma: Insurgency and the politics of Press, Peking (in Chinese). ethnicity. 2nd edition. Zed Books, London. Peters, C. M. 1996. The ecology and management of Win Myint. 2004. Rattan and rattan industry in non-timber forest resources. World Bank Technical Myanmar. Pages 117–142 in Regional Conference Report 322, 157 pp. on Sustainable Development of Rattan in Asia. Renuka, C. 1992. Rattans of the western Ghats: A tax- Yin, G., and B. Zeng. 1997. Rattan species in China. onomic manual. Kerala Forest Research Institute, Pages 49–54 in A. N. Rao and V. R. Rao, eds. Rat- India. tan—Taxonomy, ecology, silviculture, conservation, ———. 1995. A manual of the rattans of Andaman genetic improvement and biotechnology. Interna- and Nicobar Islands. Kerala Forest Research Insti- tional Plant Genetic Resources Institute, Serdang, tute, India. Malaysia.