list of figures - Terry Sunderland

attans within intermediate categories by grouping closely related folk generics (see
below). The separation of the climbing palms in this manner is based on utilisation, or
less commonly, morphological discontinuities such as diameter, or the presence or
absence of spines on the leaf sheath. In these instances, the biological genera
Eremospatha, Calamus and Oncocalamus, as well as sometimes some small-diameter
members of Laccosperma are often grouped together at the intermediate level.
When this intermediate category is recognised, this category excludes the largediameter
members of the biological genus Laccosperma. These taxa, which represent
a number of biological species, are highly prized as a source of good quality cane and
are categorised in many folk classifications only at the generic level.
6 These latter taxa, whilst possessing considerable utilitarian importance, are unrelated to other palms
and to each other and can be classified as unaffiliated generics within most Niger-Congo folk
classification systems in which they are recorded.
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