the.com/rattan
the climbing palm that became your patio furniture by strangling its way up the rainforest.
means Rattan is the tough, flexible stem of certain climbing palms, harvested and woven into furniture, baskets, and canes.
from The word comes from Malay 'rotan,' the name for these climbing palms, drawn from the verb 'raut,' meaning to pare, trim, or strip — fitting for a plant whose stems are scraped clean and split before they become a chair. English borrowed it in the 17th century as European traders encountered Southeast Asian craftwork, reshaping 'rotan' into 'rattan,' perhaps nudged by association with the existing word 'ratten.'
- climbing vine
- Hooked spines let it scale trees hundreds of feet up
- longest plant
- Single stems can stretch over 600 feet
- not bamboo
- Solid core, unlike bamboo's hollow tube
- global trade
- Multi-billion-dollar industry across Southeast Asia
- martial weapon
- Filipino arnis fighters wield rattan sticks
indonesian rattan exports — indonesia produces ~70% of world's rattan, primarily from borneo and sulawesi forests
british colonial rattan chairs — peacock chairs became iconic british raj furniture in india and southeast asia from 1800s onward