Rattans, as vines, are subject to more stringent demands than other palms in managing embolism. Like all palms, they lack secondary growth and maintain a large leaf area, but possess fewer vessels and a considerably reduced stem volume. In spite of the risk imposed by having little redundancy in xylem capacity and low hydraulic capacitance, rattans are abundant and broadly distributed in the Old World tropics. Through field work in Sabah, Malaysia, and Queensland, Australia, I am testing the hypothesis that their unique vascular structure helps rattans to avoid stem cavitation under typical conditions.