Rattan, Cane, Seagrass & Bamboo

Five different materials, one word used for all of them

Most shops in this category use "rattan" and "wicker" as though they were interchangeable, and then sell you seagrass. They are genuinely different plants with genuinely different properties and prices. Here is what each one is.

Rattan

A climbing palm from the forests of South East Asia, mostly the genus Calamus. It grows as a long, solid, flexible stem — up to a couple of hundred metres in the wild — and that solid core is the point: it can be steamed, bent into a curve and it stays there. This is what frames are made from.

• Strong. A rattan frame carries real weight for very little of its own.
• Repairable. A cracked pole can be replaced, a loose joint re-bound.
• Fast growing. Rattan regenerates in years rather than the decades a hardwood takes.
• Not waterproof. Indoors, or a conservatory. Not a patio.

Cane

Cane is not a separate plant. It is the outer skin of the rattan stem, peeled off in long thin strips. Those strips are woven into the hexagonal lattice you see on chair backs and cabinet doors — that's cane webbing — or used as binding to wrap the joints of a rattan frame.

• Harder and glossier than the rattan core, because it's the bark.
• Sold by the metre in six-way, close-woven and herringbone patterns. We stock all three, plus reed spline and the fitting kit.
• Replaceable. A cane panel that has gone slack or split can be cut out and re-webbed. This is the single most useful thing to know about cane furniture.

Seagrass

A dried marine grass, twisted into a rope and woven. It is the toughest material on this page — hard-wearing, smooth, slightly slippery underfoot — and it comes in a natural greenish-khaki that fades towards honey over a year or two.

• Best for stools, benches, baskets and anything that takes a beating.
• Faintly smells of hay when new. That fades.
• Doesn't take stain well, which is why you'll rarely see it in black or white.

Water hyacinth

An aquatic plant, dried and braided into a thick soft strand. Paler, chunkier and softer-looking than seagrass, with a more casual texture.

• Cheaper than rattan and lighter in weight.
• The most vulnerable to damp of anything we sell. Keep it away from bathrooms and unheated rooms.
• Excellent for baskets and storage, where it does no structural work.

Bamboo

A grass, not a palm, and the giveaway is that it's hollow and jointed — you can see the nodes. It can't be steam-bent into a tight curve the way rattan can, so it's used for straight runs: ladder shelves, etageres, plant stands.

• Very light, very strong along its length.
• Splits if it dries out too fast. Keep it off a radiator.

And "wicker"?

Wicker is not a material at all. It's the technique — weaving pliable strands over a frame. Rattan, cane, seagrass, water hyacinth and willow can all be wickerwork. When a listing says "wicker" and nothing else, it is telling you nothing about what you're buying, and quite often what you're buying is polyethylene.

Finishes, and what they do

We keep the stains, so a piece bought this year can be matched in three years' time. There's a colour matching service if you need an exact match to something you already own.

Which should I buy?

• A chair you'll sit in daily — rattan frame, cane back. It's the combination that lasts.
• A stool or bench that takes abuse — seagrass.
• Baskets and storage — water hyacinth or seagrass, whichever colour you prefer.
• Shelving and plant stands — bamboo and cane.
• A conservatory set — rattan, and read indoor only first.

Still not sure? Email support@homartuk.com with the room and what it needs to survive, and we'll tell you which material to pick.