Study on the basic anatomical characteristics of rattan canes will give great guidance to their classification, exploitation, utilization, processing and improvement. The basic anatomical characteristics and their variation in cane of three commercial rattans in South China, i.e. Calamus simplicifolius, Calamus tetradactylus and Daemonorops margaritae were investigated. Results show that: 1) The variation at the height of rattan canes is small, while the variation along the radius direction of rattan canes is significant. 2) The fiber length, fiber ratio and distributing density of vascular bundle in the cross section decrease from cortex to core, while the fiber width, vessel element length and width, parenchyma ratio, vessel ratio, vascular bundle size, metaxylem vessel diameter and fiber microfibrillar angle in the cross section increase from cortex to core. The cellulose crystallinity of stem core is bigger than that of the cortex. 3) All these three rattan possess the cane structure characteristics of good commercial rattan cane. As for the anatomical structure, C. simplicifolius is the best and C. tetradactylus is better than D. margaritae. 4) According to the anatomic study, the penetration approach of rattan cane is mainly the longitudinal axial passage around the core; it is an important research direction to improve the penetrability of rattan cane.
