Calamus muelleri

Location & distribution maps

Phylogeny & links to associated information:

Wikipedia links:       Angiosperms > Monocots > Alismatales > Arecales > Arecaceae > Calamus muelleri 

Other links:     

Plant  information

Common name:                Wait-a-while Palm      

Conservation status:    Least concern

Etymology:   

Flowers:                  

• This species, like others in the genus, produces a modified sterile inflorescence (known as a flagellum) up to 1.2 m long, which is armed with dozens of strong, recurved barbs that act like grappling hooks to latch on to nearby vegetation and provide support for the plant

• Fertile inflorescences are up to 1 m long and flowering occurs in all months of the year

Fruit:                         

• The fruits are a globose drupe about 12–16 mm in diameter, containing a single seed

Leaves:         

•  The pinnate fronds are alternate and more or less sessile

• They are up to 1 m long with 7-13 leaflets on each side and have long recurved spines on the rachis

• The leaflets have spines along the midrib on the upper surface and small sharp spurs on their margins

• The leaf sheath is densely covered in spines

Stem & branches: 

• Up to 20 m in length, with thin stems up to 16 mm diameter

Habit:        

• It is a clustering, climbing palm with a vine-like habit 

Habitat:   

• Subtropical coastal rainforests 

Distribution:                  

• Endemic to northern NSW and southern Queensland

• From around Gympie in Queensland south to the Bellinger and Hastings Rivers in NSW

Additional notes:        

• Was first described by the German botanist and noted authority on Arecaceae Hermann Wendland, based on specimens collected by Hermann Beckler and others on the Brisbane River and Moreton Bay in Queensland and on the Clarence and Richmond Rivers in NSW

• Wendland's work was published in the journal Linnaea; Ein Journal für die Botanik in ihrem ganzen Umfange in 1875

• Laetesia raveni, a species of spider endemic to eastern Australia, builds its web only in two plant species, Calamus muelleri and Solanum inaequilaterum, both of which are spiny plants

• Aboriginal Australians used the cane stems for weaving

Sources of information:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calamus_muelleri (2023)