https://sites.google.com/site/bambusananahort/

by  Dieter Ohrnberger

(Khun Dieter — คุณดีเท่อร์)

Email: khundieterth@gmail.com

Bambusetum Baan Sammi, Doi Saket, Chiang Mai 50220, Thailand — สวนไผ่บ้านแซมมี อ. ดอยสะเก็ด จ. เชียงใหม่ ๕๐๒๒๐

Excerpt from: Bamboos of Thailand, online draft version 2017.
Updated 2024 version of Bamboos of Thailand:
https://sites.google.com/view/bamboos-of-thailand/home

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Note: Most of the original web links in this contribution, Bambusa nana hort., were out of date and have therefore been replaced with updated links on 13 July 2024. The blog Compilation of Bamboo Seeds, mentioned several times in this contribution, was discontinued in 2021, and, at the same time, the texts, photos, and tables of this blog were included in the online publication The Bamboos of Thailand. In this online publication, you can find the treatment of Bambusa nana hort. on the following page:
×Thyrsocalamus liang — https://sites.google.com/view/bamboos-of-thailand/1-native-species/thyrsocalamus/thyrsocalamus-liang

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In this contribution, members of the phai liang group are listed and described, which horticulturists in the USA and Australia usually refer to as "Bambusa nana". There is currently no evidence that all the members listed herein belong to a single species. However, there are indications that at least phai liang dam (ไผ่เลี้ยงดำ), phai liang wan (ไผ่เลี้ยงหวาน), phai liang thawai (ไผ่เลี้ยงทวาย), and phai liang si thong (ไผ่เลี้ยงสีทอง) are conspecific and represent minor variations within a single species. In contrast, there are currently doubts if phai liang yak (ไผ่เลี้ยงยักษ์) in Thailand, and "Bambusa nana" from Quail Botanical Gardens (San Diego Botanic Garden, since 2009), USA, belong to that species. This assumed single species has no name that follows the rules of the International Code of Nomenclature (Melbourne Code). As there is a need to refer to this species, it is currently best to cite the species as "Bambusa nana hort." until a valid name has been published.

• • Thai names: ไผ่เลี้ยง (phai liang), ไผ่สร้างไพร (phai sang phrai); "liang" = to keep, to grow, domestic. The Thai name, phai liang, can be translated as "domestic bamboo". It indicates that this bamboo is not known in the wild but is only in cultivation. The other Thai name, phai sang phrai, is applied in central and north-eastern Thailand but not in northern Thailand.

  • English name: Not recorded.

  • Distribution: THAILAND, widely and frequently cultivated, is said not to be known in the wild. LAOS, cultivated; possibly also in MYANMAR, southern CHINA, CAMBODIA, and VIETNAM.

  • Culm size: Height up to 15 m.

  • Cultivation requirements: Easy-growing, thrives well in heavy, moist soil with good drainage, exposed to full sun, tolerates partial and light shade.

  • Provisional identification: (1) The generic assignment of phai liang remains uncertain. This species might have been treated by botanists in early times, and it has been considered to be Bambusa nana Roxb. (in ชื่พรรณไม้ในเมืองไทย, [2525 B.E., = 1982 C.E.]: p. 336), which is commonly treated as a synonym of Bambusa multiplex (Lour.) Raeusch. ex Schult., a bamboo only known in cultivation. However, phai liang is certainly not conspecific with Bambusa multiplex, as culm sheaths are markedly different, and other characteristics (culm wall thickness, foliage leaf blades) differ substantially. (2) The overall appearance of phai liang is similar to that of Thyrsostachys oliveri, but characteristics that could distinguish between these two species have only been scantily observed and not yet described in detail. (3) The structure of flowers and flowering branches of members of the phai liang group is similar to Bambusa or Dendrocalamus and does not resemble both species of Thyrsostachys, T. oliveri and T. siamensis. Furthermore, anthers in phai liang wan are red in all flowering plants observed so far, whereas Thyrsostachys species have yellow anthers (pale yellow in Thyrsostachys siamensis, fl. specimen BS-0569 from Phetchaburi, Thailand). It can therefore be ruled out that the members of the phai liang group belong to Thyrsostachys. (4) On page 72 in Iconographia Bambusoidearum Sinicarum by T. P. Yi & al. (2008), a bamboo is described (in Chinese) and illustrated with 4 photos (showing habit and culm sheaths) under the name "1. 大泰竹 [dà tài zhú, bigger Thai bamboo] Thyrsostachys oliveri Gamble". Judging from these photos, there is no doubt that the illustrated bamboo is true phai liang dam as described herein under BS-0001-1. (5) Thyrsostachys oliveri is commonly named in Thai ไผ่รวกดำ (phai ruak dam). However, the name "phai ruak dam" is also applied to ไผ่เลี้ยงดำ (phai liang dam) as a second name or synonym, at least by local people in Chiang Mai (Mr. Rat, pers. comm. in Oct. 2008, and inquiries at Kham Thiang Market), but "phai ruak dam" is also applied to another similar unidentified species. (6) One might presume from the overall appearance of phai liang dam (BS-0001-1) and phai liang wan (BS-0001-2) that they are intergeneric hybrids derived from Thyrsostachys and Dendrocalamus (D. membranaceus could be a candidate), and it is hoped that a molecular study will soon reveal their closest related species. (7) Seeds are rare. A recent discovery in late 2012 and early 2013 of a few seedlings on the ground of flowering plants (which are doubtless phai liang or phai liang wan) gave rise to the hope that at least some clones can produce fertile flowers. Seeds have recently been discovered on a plant of phai liang in Krabi, but the seeds did not germinate.

  • Comments: (1) ไผ่เลี้ยง (phai liang) is not to be confused with ไผ่เหลือง (phai lueang) of similar pronunciation. (2) Plantings of ไผ่เลี้ยง (phai liang) are found mislabeled as "Bambusa multiplex" in Royal Flora Ratchaphruek, Chiang Mai, although true B. multiplex exists in this garden, too. Misidentification has continued since the 1980s or earlier. (3) Phai liang has proven to be capable of natural sexual reproduction in a cultivated environment under non-optimal conditions; hence, there is reason to assume that this species could easily get established and locally naturalized under more favorable environmental conditions. I received two plants (BS-0042, BS-0047, see below) very similar to phai liang, collected from Phetchabun by ธ. ล., who insisted that he collected these bamboos "from the wild". Unfortunately, the plants in cultivation died later, and their identity remains unresolved.

(1) ไผ่เลี้ยงดำ (phai liang dam) • BS-0001-1 &c.

• • Thai names: ไผ่เลี้ยงดำ (phai liang dam), "dam" = black, dark; ไผ่เลี้ยงหนัก (phai liang nak), "nak" = heavy, hard; ไผ่สร้างไพร (phai sang phrai), "sang" = to construct, to build, "phrai" = forest, jungle; ไผ่เลี้ยงลำ (phai liang lam), "lam" = trunk, stem; ไผ่เลี้ยงบันได (phai liang ban dai), "ban dai" = ladder; ไผ่เลี้ยงบ้าน (phai liang ban), "ban" = village, house; ไผ่รวกดำ (phai ruak dam), "dam" = black, dark.

  • English name: Not recorded.

  • Distribution: THAILAND, widely known in cultivation, less common in southern Thailand.

  • Local distribution: widely and intensively planted in urban areas of Chiang Mai; probably the most appreciated and best-sold bamboo at Kham Thiang Market, available throughout the year. At Kham Thiang Market, this bamboo can be found planted several hundred meters along borders as a windbreak or visual screen.

  • Culm size: Height 10–12 (15) m, diameter to 5 cm.

  • Images: Photos in A. Anantachot, 1991: 33.

• • Specimens: BS-0001-1 (living plants), Chiang Mai, cult., received as "ไผ่เลี้ยง (phai liang)", 2003. BS-0001-4 (living plants), Chiang Mai, cult., 2008. BS-0404 (living plant), วัดป่าตึง (Wat Pa Tueng), แม่จัน (Mae Chan), Chiang Rai, cult., received as "ไผ่รวก เชียงคำ (phai ruak chiang kam)", 13 Jan. 2010.

  • Characteristics: Habit tight caespitose. Rhizomes pachy­morph, up to 50 cm long; neck short. Culms erect, straight, over 10 m tall, slightly bending outward above; young shoots emerge from early June, light cinnamon-colored, sparsely covered with minute soft hairs, sheath blades dark green to dark reddish brown. Culm internodes terete, dark green, glabrous (except most internodes of basal culm covered with short velvety white hairs when young), shiny, usually less than 30 cm long, diameter to 5.0 cm, thick-walled. Culm nodes slightly or not prominent, glabrous, with a 6 mm tall light gray band on young culms; sheath scar ring dark; without thorns; occasionally with a few short aerial roots at the lower culm nodes. Culm sheaths deciduous, but the lowermost culm sheaths may remain tightly attached to the culm and decay on it; sheath proper 30 cm long, 20 cm wide, longer than internode, cinnamon-colored, and sparsely covered with minute soft hairs when young, dull light brownish and nearly glabrous when dry; sheath blades long triangle-shaped, 12 cm long, base 2.5 cm wide, typically not reflexed, darker than culm sheath proper, sheath blades usually persistent but may loosen from culm sheath proper; sheath ligule present, short, 3 mm long, broader than base of sheath blade, dark brown, toothed; auricles in­con­spicuous, or lacking on smaller sheaths, bristles one or few, broad-based and short, or lacking on smaller sheaths. Branch complement with intravaginal branching; initial-developing branches 3, unequal, not thick, one dominant; soon after additional but much smaller branches develop, altogether to about 10. Branch buds on the lower part of culms present but usually remain dormant. Foliage leaves: twig with 5-8 leaves; leaf blades dull medium to dark green, glabrous on both sides, small and narrow, usually 10-14 cm long, 7-11 mm wide, leaf sheath light green when young, dull straw-colored when dry, leaf ligule in­con­spicuous, auricles none, bristles none.

  • Uses: Shoots edible, said to be of good taste. Culms strong, used for construction purposes; furniture and ladders are preferably made of this bamboo. Plants are highly appreciated as garden ornamental, best suitable as solitary plant, tall visual screen, or tall trimmed hedge.

• • Specimens: BS-0080 &c., comprising: BS-0080, BS-0080-2 (living seedlings), BS-0080-1 (living seedling, died). All are seedlings, collected from the ground of a single flowering tall plant of phai liang dam, cultivated at เชิงดอย (Choeng Doi), Doi Saket district, Chiang Mai, collected in mid-July 2012 and late August 2013.

  • Flowering and seeding: Compilation of Bamboo Seeds: BS-0080, BS-0080-2.

  • Comments: When the seedlings were collected, the flowering mother plant was not gregariously flowering; most branches showed vividly green leaves, and strong new shoots developed. The flowering branches were high up the plant and could not be observed in detail. Seeds were not found. The flowering plant showed cinnamon-colored new shoots, and dark green old culms (as can be seen in the photos taken when seedlings were collected), thus it clearly represents phai liang dam.

  • Specimens: None collected (living plant), from Laos.

  • Images: Post and photos by Niramit Sareerudt on Facebook, 7 Feb. 2014: Flowering of "ไผ่เลี้ยงดำ" (phai liang dam), "Bambusa nana", in Laos.

  • Comments: No seeds were found. The photos clearly show that the plant from Laos represents phai liang dam.

(1a) ไผ่เลี้ยงลำสีเหลือง (phai liang lam si lueang) 

• • Thai names: ไผ่เลี้ยงลำสีเหลือง (phai liang lam si lueang).

  • English names: Not recorded.

  • Distribution: THAILAND: northern part, cult., possibly widely distributed throughout Thailand.

  • Culm size: Height less tall and the diameter smaller than in ไผ่เลี้ยงดำ (phai liang dam).

• • Specimens: BS-0001-5 (living plant), Kham Thiang Market, Chiang Mai, cult., 25 Mar. 2011; CM-010 (living plants), Land+Houses, Mae Hia, Chiang Mai, cult.; CM-007 (living plants), Rim Ping, Mueang, Chiang Mai, cult.

  • Characteristics: Culms green, turning yellowish or orange-yellow; young shoots cinnamon-colored, or brownish-green.

  • Comments: The culm color gradually turns from green to yellowish when exposed to the sun. A selection with yellowish culms independent of sun exposure is not known.

• • Specimens: BS-0200 (living plant), received from cultivated stock as "ไผ่หวาน" (phai wan) from a nursery in Prachin Buri, 9 Dec. 2008.

  • Characteristics: Rhizomes pachymorph, short-necked. Culms erect, forming a tight clump, the lower part of the culm remains branchless. Internodes glabrous, thick-walled, or nearly solid. Branches several, unequal, one dominant. Culm sheaths glabrous, light green when young, light straw-colored when dry; sheath ligule short, irregularly fringed, rather dark; sheath auricles small, dark or nearly black, bristles rather short or lacking; culm sheath blade dark green with light green apex when young, not or slightly reflexed on lower culm. New shoots bright green, with reddish margins and a reddish apex of culm sheaths when young, fading later, glabrous, sheath blades of upper culm sheaths reflexed. Shoots emerge from early June.

  • Uses: Shoots for food.

  • Provisional identification: This plant from Prachin Buri is similar in habit and general appearance to BS-0001-2, ไผ่เลี้ยงหวาน (phai liang wan). It is quite certainly the same species as BS-0001-1, merely distinctive at the cultivar level.

  • Comments: Several culms of the clump started flowering in early Dec. 2014 and died about Aug./Sep. 2015; no seeds were found in the flowers, and no seedlings were found on the ground. The remaining non-flowering culms continued vegetative growth for several months, then flowered, and by late 2016, all culms were dead.

• • Distribution: THAI­LAND, northern part: Nan, in cultivation.

  • Images: Post and photos of a flowering plant in Nan, northern Thailand, by Nanbamboo น่านแบมบู on Facebook, 8 Feb. 2014. Post and photos of plants in Nan, by Thoop Nakasen on Facebook (1), (2), (3), 13 Feb. 2014.

  • Specimens: None collected.

  • Comments: Seeds were collected from the flowering plants in Nan. Photos of the flowers show anthers in red.

(4) ไผ่เลี้ยงสีทอง (phai liang si thong) • BS-0391 &c.

• • Thai names: ไผ่เลี้ยงสีทอง (phai liang si thong), ไผ่หวานสีทอง (phai wan si thong), ไผ่ดอยหล่อ (phai doi lo); "si" = color, "thong" = gold, golden. The Thai name, "si thong", might refer to the yellowish-green color of the foliage leaves.

  • English name: Not recorded.

  • Distribution: THAILAND, cultivated, known from Chiang Mai, Nan, and Prachin Buri.

  • Culm size: Ultimate size not recorded. Culms are said not to grow taller than 5 m and to 5 cm in diameter. This is true if shoots are regularly harvested on a commercial basis (for which this bamboo has been selected), but plants if undisturbed grow considerably taller, and BS-0391, still an immature plant, has already reached a diameter of 5.5 cm by 8 m height.

• • Specimens: BS-0391 (living plant, flowering), received from a nursery in Chiang Mai province under the names ไผ่หวานสีทอง (phai wan si thong) and ไผ่ดอยหล่อ (phai doi lo), a few culms started flowering in Dec. 2013, soon continued gregarious flowering, and died mid-2015. BS-0146 (living plant, non-flowering), received from a nursery in Hang Dong, Chiang Mai province, under the name ไผ่เลี้ยงหวาน (phai liang wan).

  • Characteristics: Culms solid; foliage leaves yellowish-green in mature clumps.

  • Uses: Plants are grown for commercial shoot production; shoots are very sweet and can be eaten raw, or they are used for bamboo pickles (ดอง, dong) laid in salt water for conservation. Plants have ornamental value, too, and can be used as garden plants and for landscaping.

  • Cultivation requirements: The plants are usually grown in nurseries in full sun with drip irrigation. Young shoots can be harvested throughout the year (3–4 shoots per clump during the main shooting season, 2–3 shoots out of the main shooting season).

  • Comments: (1) Flowers of BS-0391 show red anthers and don't seem to differ from flowers in phai liang wan. (2) No seeds were found in the flowers, and no seedlings were found on the ground of the mother plant.

(5) 'Wiman Thong' (วิมานทอง) • BS-0606 &c.

• • Thai names: ไผ่เลี้ยงลายทอง (phai liang lai thong), ไผ่เลี้ยงลาย (phai liang lai), ไผ่แคนดี้ (phai kaendi).

  • English names: Wiman Thong Bamboo, Candy Bamboo.

  • Distribution: THAILAND, cultivated; discovered in a village in Prachin Buri (ปราจีนบุรี).

  • Culm size: Not recorded, apparently somewhat smaller than phai liang dam.

• • Specimens: BS-0606 &c.: comprising BS-0606, BS-0606-1, BS-0677, BS-0677-1 (living plants), received 2010 and 2011.

  • Characteristics: Same as ไผ่เลี้ยงดำ (phai liang dam), but the culm internodes with bright green and yellow stripes of varying width. Culm sheaths of young shoots are cinnamon-colored, as in phai liang dam.

  • Uses: Plants as ornamental garden plants, and for landscaping.

  • Cultivation requirements: Easy-growing; in full sun to partial shade; normal moisture-retentive to moist soil with good drainage.

  • Comments: This cultivated variety is quite stable, but culms can occasionally revert to green.

The following bamboos may or may not be members of the phai liang group. They cannot be assigned to any of the aforementioned cultivated varieties, and they cannot be properly described due to the current lack of information.

(6) ไผ่เลี้ยงยักษ์ (phai liang yak)

• • Thai name: ไผ่เลี้ยงยักษ์ (phai liang yak).

  • English name: Not recorded.

  • Distribution: THAILAND: northern and northern central Thailand (e.g., in Phet­chabun).

  • Culm size: Height taller and diameter thicker than in ไผ่เลี้ยงดำ (phai liang dam).

  • Images: Post and photos by Niramit Sareerudt on Facebook, 24 Jan. 2014.

  • Specimens: No specimens collected.

  • Comments: (1) Plant in flower by February 2014, seeds still unknown. (2) It is currently unclear if ไผ่เลี้ยงยักษ์ (phai liang yak) is a genuine member of the phai liang group, or if it represents a separate species. Although vegetative parts seem quite similar (judging from photos), flowers might be somewhat different and need to be investigated. The only apparent difference, at first sight, is that anthers are yellow in ไผ่เลี้ยงยักษ์ (phai liang yak), whereas they are red in all those plants of ไผ่เลี้ยงหวาน (p,hai liang wan) and ไผ่เลี้ยงทวาย (phai liang thawai) that I was able to observe flowering. (3) It has been assumed that ไผ่เลี้ยงยักษ์ (phai liang yak) represents Dendrocalamus barbatus.

(6a) ไผ่เลี้ยงยักษ์ (phai liang yak) from Phetchabun (เพชรบูรณ์) • BS-0047

• • Specimens: BS-0047 (living plant), collected in Petchabun "from the wild" at about 800 m altitude, coll. ธ. ล., plant received Oct. 2011, died in 2012.

(7) cl. Quail • BS-0436

• • Thai name: Not recorded.

  • English name: Not recorded.

  • Distribution: USA, cultivated at San Diego Botanic Garden, formerly Quail Botanical Gardens, San Diego, Calif., of unrecorded origin, supposedly received from Thailand a long time ago.

  • Culm size: Not recorded, apparently tall-growing.

• • Specimens: BS-0436 (2 living plants), received from cultivated stock as "Bambusa sp. 'Nana', Quail Gardens clone" from the USA, C. T., 22 Jan. 2010.

  • Characteristics: Because the plants are still immature, characteristics cannot be described in detail. Culm sheaths are covered with dark hairs and have rim-like auricles. Branches with a central dominant branch, two subdominant side branches, and some smaller branches. Foliage leaves small, though possibly slightly larger than in plants of phai liang. Shoots emerge from June.

  • Uses: Plants for landscaping.

  • Cultivation requirements: Easy and vigorously growing; in full sun, normal moisture-retentive to moist soil with good drainage, does not tolerate flooding.

  • Comments: It is unclear if the Quail clone is a member of the phai liang group, thus conspecific, although there are some similarities. However, culm sheaths are similar to species of the genus Gigantochloa, but foliage leaves are small, which is not common in Gigantochloa.