CD-ROMs

The Rattans of Brunei Darussalam

Interactive Key

This CD-ROM, the first of its kind to be produced by the Forestry Department, Brunei, and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, is an aid to the identification of the rattans of Brunei Darussalam. It should help you to put names to incomplete fragments or vouchers collected in the field. The interactive key is based upon the book The Rattans of Brunei Darussalam (Dransfield 1998) with additional scoring of features from specimens. In addition, more illustrations, many in colour, have been included, as has an Adobe Acrobat version of the book.

Of the 80 rattans recorded in Brunei, fewer than five species are of commercial value. Although a large-scale commerical rattan industry has never developed in Brunei, rattans are still of considerable importance to local people as a source of fibre for basket-weaving, matting and general tying purposes. With increased interest in the sustainable management of rattan in South-east Asia, precise knowledge of which species occur naturally in Brunei becomes important, and this CD-ROM is intended as a guide to these naturally-occurring species.

Start with your specimen - look at it carefully, and then try scoring different characters by answering the simple questions in the character window. Drag the chosen answers to the answer box and you will see that the list of possible species rapidly decreases.

If at any time you are unsure of the meaning of the question, you may call up extra information by clicking on the yellow button next to it. This is, in effect, an interactive glossary which explains the rather complicated structure of rattans, an understanding of which is extremely useful in identifying different species.

There is at least one line drawing for each species in Brunei Darussalam and there are usually colour photographs as well. If you wish to check the appearance of any particular species, click the yellow button next to the species name - this allows access to descriptions and images.

Please remember that rattan species vary: some of this variation may not be recorded and reflected in the data used to produce this interactive key.

The Brunei - Kew Collaborative Project

Find out more about the background to the project.

Project Publications

A range of publications have been produced from the database.

Enquiries and Comments

Enquiries regarding the Brunei Project, the database, the publications or the CD-ROM may be addressed to either of the following:

Brunei Project
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Richmond
Surrey TW9 3AB
UK

or:

The Forestry Department
Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources
Bandar Seri Begawan 2067
Brunei Darussalam