Went to the National Agriculture and Forestry Research Institute (NAFRI) field station at Nam Suong to run some inventory transects with the participants of the WWF rattan workshop (see Vientiane). Got a tour of the facilities before we headed into the forest, and was delighted to have a look at their field herbarium. Contains about 1600 specimens, and was of special interest because it was started by my friend Tom Evans, currently of the WCS Cambodia Program, when he was doing his doctoral work on the rattans of Lao.
Tom described four new species of rattan during his time in Laos: Calamus solitarius, Calamus oligostachys, Calamus bimaniferus, and Calamus laoensis. The drawers contain some of the voucher specimens from his fieldwork. Shown below is Calamus viminalis. [NOTE: It started pouring rain during the first transect and kept raining until we finished.]
