Bambusa affinis

Thai names: ไผ่ไล่ล่อป่า (phai lai lo pa) (Mae Hong Son); ว่าบวย (wa-buai) (Karen: Mae Hong Son); วะบุก (wa-buk) (Karen); "wa puang" (Karen). — T. Smitinand, 2001 [#1003]; BKF [#1368].

Myanmar name: Thishe (Burmese).

Distribution: THAILAND: Possibly in the borderland area with Myanmar. This species is supposed to also occur in the provinces of Tak and Kanchanaburi in western Thailand (Classification of Bamboo, 2012 [#1223]). — INDIA (North and North-East): Northern West Bengal, Tripura. — BANGLADESH: northern part. — MYANMAR: Mon State, Bago Region, Tanintharyi Region, Kayin State.

Descriptions:

(1) "A low, tufted, shrubby bamboo. Culms 5-7 m high, 2.5-5 cm in diameter, pale green or striped green and white, striate, appressed-hairy; nodes marked with black hairs below, slightly thickened; internodes 30-60 cm long, hollow. Culm-sheaths 10-12.5 cm long, as broad as long, round at tip, glabrous or with brown appressed hairs in small patches, bright green when young, later becoming straw-coloured; imperfect blade 2.5-5 cm long and 0.75-1.25 cm broad, lanceolate, usually recurved, appressed, brown hairy within, slightly rounded at base and decurrent to form a very narrow entire wing on the top of the sheath, longer on young shoots; ligule narrow, entire. Leaves 15-25 cm long and 2.5-3.7 cm broad, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, tip scabrous, twisted, smooth above, except the scabrous points on marginal veins, pale and scabrid below, scabrous on the edges; secondary veins 8-10, intermediate 6-8, pellucid-punctate, giving the appearance of transverse veinlets beneath; petiole minute; leaf sheaths keeled, striate, covered on the back with stiff brown hairs, ending above in a short callus. …" — K. K. Seethalakshmi & al., Bamboos of India, 1998: p. 32 [#1062].

(2) "A loosely tufted, shrubby bamboo. Culms 5-7 m high, 2-5 cm in diameter, pale green or striped green and white, striate; nodes even; internodes 20-40 cm long, hollow; bud broadly ovate, short. Culm-sheaths late deciduous, shorter than internodes, yellowish-brown, thin, crustaceous; sheath proper 12-14 cm long, as broad as long, striate, with brown hairs appressed on outer surface afterwards glabrous, margins ciliate first afterwards smooth; imperfect blade lanceolate, reflexed, appressed brown hairy within; ligule narrow, entire; auricles obscure. Leaves 8-14 per twig; leaf-blades lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, abaxial surface glabrous except few hairs near basal midrib, margins serrate, one more like ciliate, cross bars often observed; leaf-sheath hairy first afterwards glabrous, margins smooth; ligule obligue [oblique], fine ciliate at mouth; auricles short elliptical, glabrous." — A. J. C. Bose, Bamboos (brochure), IBG Howrah, Kolkata, 2013: p. 11 [#1260].

(3) "... caespitose. Rhizomes short; pachymorph. Culms erect; 500–600 cm long; 25–35 mm diam.; woody; without nodal roots. Culm-internodes terete; 30–60 cm long; light green, or light green and white; concolorous, or striped; striate; distally pubescent. Culm-nodes pubescent. Lateral branches dendroid. Culm-sheaths 10–15 cm long; 1 times as long as wide; yellow; glabrous, or pubescent; hairy throughout; with tawny hairs; convex at apex; without auricles. Culm-sheath blade lanceolate; reflexed; 2.5–5 cm long; 7–12 mm wide; pubescent. Leaves cauline. Leaf-sheaths striately veined; pubescent; hairs tawny. Leaf-sheath oral hairs lacking. Leaf-sheath auricles absent. Ligule an eciliate membrane. Collar with external ligule. Leaf-blade base with a brief petiole-like connection to sheath; petiole 0.5 cm long. Leaf-blades lanceolate; 15–25 cm long; 25–35 mm wide; glandular. Leaf-blade midrib conspicuous. Leaf-blade venation with 12–16 secondary veins. Leaf-blade surface scabrous; rough abaxially; glabrous. Leaf-blade margins scabrous. Leaf-blade apex acuminate; antrorsely scabrous. ... [flowers and seeds described]." — Kew GrassBase [#1335].

Images:

(1) Photos in A. J. C. Bose, Bamboos (brochure), IBG Howrah, Kolkata, 2013: p. 11, fig. A-D (culms, culm-leaf, bud, young shoot) [#1260].

(2) Photo of type (branches, flowers, leaves) in Kew Herbarium [#1333].

Uses: Culms for furniture, fishing poles, pole vault staves, and light spears.

Comments: In a vegetative state, Bambusa affinis looks similar to a species of Gigantochloa: basal or lower culm with stripes, culm-leaf apex rounded with "obscure" auricles (from the photo in Bose, l.c. [#1260], the auricles seem to be rim-like, similar to many species of Gigantochloa), culm-leaf blade reflexed and green in young shoots.