RATTAN', RATAN, or ROTTA-NG, Calarnits, a genus of palms very different in habit front most of the order; having a reed-like, slender, often jointed, and extremely long stein, sometimes even 1000 ft. or upwards in length. The name rattan is extended to others of the same tribe of palms, having the same general habit, although constituted by botanists into different genera. The stem, which is very smooth, and hard and silicions externally, is either erect, or ascends and descends among trees; .often' laying hold as it ascends by means of- hooked prickles, the extremities of the midribs of its leaves, which are scattered at considerable intervals along its whole length, and envelop it by their sheathing stalks, and then descending in graceful festoons to climb again a neighboring tree. Sometimes, however, there are no leaves scattered along the stem. Sir James E. Tennent says, in his work on Ceylon: "I have seen a specimen 250 ft. long, and an inch in diameter, without a single irregularity, and•no appearance of foli age other than the bunch of feathery leaves-at the extremity." The leaves are always pinnate, and very beautiful. The fruit is a dry berry, covered with imbricated scales, and generally one-seeded.
The species are very numerous, all natives of the East Indies. A few species are found in the southern parts of India; but they abound along the southern foot of the Himalayas, in Chittagong, Silhet, Assam, the s.e. of Asia, and many of the islands of that region. They are all very useful, are much -employed in their native countries, for making plaited work, ropes, etc., and are very largely imported into Britain and other parts of the world, generally under the name of cane, and chiefly in order to be used for plaited or wicker work.—Bridges of great strength are made, in some parts of the east, of the stems of these palms. They are twisted into ropes in some parts of the east,which are used for binding wild elephants, and for other purposes requiring great strength; the vessels of Java, Sumatra, and neighboring regions are very generally furnished with. cables made of them, which are extensively manufactured at Malacca; and the Chinese make ropes of rattans by splitting them longitudinally, soaking them, and attaching them to a wheel, which is kept in motion, while new rattans are added, one by one, increase the length of the rope.—The species called calamusrudentium, which has very
long stems, is much employed in rope-making. Many species probably furnish the canes of commerce, one of which, C. rents. a native of India, is only about 20 ft. in length. The elegant walking-canes called Malacca canes are believed to be the produce of C. scipionum; the plant, however, does not grow in Malacca, but in Sumatra,—Small stems of rattan are used as a substitute for whalebone in umbrellas.—The fruit of some species of rattan is delicate article of food; and the young shoots, variously dressed, are equal to the finest of vegetables.—A very flue kind of dragon's blood (q.v.) is obtained from a species of rattan ((l. deuce), and particularly from the fruit, on the surface of which it appears as it resinous exudation. 'Various methods are employed for collecting it.
The canes of commerce are usually hnported in bundles of 100 canes, each cane from 15 to 20 ft. in length; from 200,000 to 300,000 of these bundles are annually imported into Britain.
ItATTANY, or MIATANY, Kraineriu telandra, a half-shrubby plant, of the natural order pelygulca, a native of the cold sterile table-lands of the Andes in Peru and Bolivia. It is called ratunhia in Peru. It is valued for the medicinal properties of the root., which are shared more or less by other species of the same genus, also natives of South America. The dried root is a powerful astringent, and a useful tonic; and is employed in mucous discharges, passive hemorrhages, anti cases of relaxation and debility. It is also used as a tooth-powder, often mixed with orris root and charcoal. root is imported from different parts of South America, but chiefly from Lima. It is exten sively imported into Portugal in order to communicate a rich red color to wines. The peculiar properties of rattany root are supposed to be chiefly owing to an acid called •raweric acid. •