Bambusa bambos
Bambusa bambos (L.) Voss, Vilm. Blumengärtn., ed. 3. 1, 1895: 1189
Synonyms: Arundo bambos L., Sp. Pl. 1, 1753: 81; Bambusa arundinacea Willd., Sp. Pl., ed. 4, 2 (1), 1799: 245
Type: The name, Arundo bambos L., basionym of Bambusa bambos (L.) Voss, was effectively lectotypified by Judziewicz in 1990; N. H. Xia & C. M. A. Stapleton, 1997 [#1023].
Thai names: ไผ่ป่า (phai pa); ไผ่หนาม (phai nam); จะกั๊ตวา (cha-kat-wa) (Burmese); ชารอง (cha-rong), ชาเรียง (cha-riang) (So: Nakhon Phanom); ทะงาน (tha-ngan) (Chong: Trat); ทูน (thun) (Chaobon: Phetchabun); ไผ่ซางหนาม (phai sang nam) (Northern); ไผ่รวก (phai ruak) (Kanchanaburi); ระไซ (ra-sai) (Khmer: Surin); วาชุ (wa-chu) (Karen: Surin); แวซู (wae-su) (Karen: Mae Hong Son). — T. Smitinand, 2001 [#1003]; BKF [#1368].
English names: Giant Thorny Bamboo, Indian Thorny Bamboo.
Distribution: THAILAND: native, also planted, near rivers, in mixed deciduous forest and dry evergreen forest. — MYANMAR: native. — INDIA: throughout, native. — PAKISTAN (East), native. — LAOS. — CAMBODIA. — VIETNAM. — CHINA (South). — MALAYSIA: introduced. — BANGLADESH. — INDONESIA: introduced. — SRI LANKA. — This species is nowadays distributed worldwide throughout the tropics. — N. Bystriakova & al., Bamboo Biodiversity, 2003: map 11 [#1342].
Culm size: Height 25–30 (35) m, diameter 10–15 (17.5) cm.
Descriptions:
(1) "A very densely tufted bamboo, producing large dense clumps of closely packed culms. Culms strong, cylindrical, erect, hollow, dark green-coloured, up to 30 m tall, 15-18 cm diameter, the walls very thick with a lumen; branching at all nodes, those from the lower nodes recurved and bent downward towards the ground with the upper branches arching and producing a fan like plume, the upper leafy branches bearing small spines. Nodes slightly swollen and few lower nodes produce short aerial roots. Nodes contain a single branch bud at the ridged nodal line. Central dominant branch is produced first, with one or two laterals from the lower nodes, usually the primary and one secondary branch produced at the lower nodes of the culm, often spine-like, usually 3 branches produced at the upper nodes, leafy, with some branches. Culm-sheaths coriaceous, glabrous to pubescent with dark brown velvety hairs. Leaves diffuse in complements, 15-30 cm long and 8-15 mm broad, with about 10 leaves in each complement. Leaf blades linear and variable in size, lanceolate, narrowed to an acuminate tip, with mid-vein inconspicuous on the abaxial side and prominent on adaxial side. … [flowers and seeds described]." — K. K. Seethalakshmi & al., Bamboos of India, 1998: p. 40 [#1062].
(2) S. Duriyaprapan & P. C. M. Jansen in S. Dransfield & E. A. Widjaja (eds.), Plant Resources of South-East Asia No. 7, Bamboos, 1995: p. 56-60, fig. [#1226].
(3) Soderstr. & Ellis, Bamboos Sri Lanka, 1988: p. 30 [#1142].
(4) Flora of Taiwan [#1106].
(5) K. M. Wong, Bamboos of Peninsular Malaysia, 1995: p. 86-88, fig. 36-37 [#1210].
(6) Kew GrassBase [#1335].
Images: Line drawing in Gamble, Bambuseae Brit. India, 1896: pl. 48 [#1230]; line drawing and photos (habit, culms) in Soderstr. & Ellis, Bamboos Sri Lanka, 1988: p. 31-33 [#1142]; line drawing Flora of Taiwan [#1106]. Photos Tropicos (habit); AsianFlora (habit, culm, shoot) [#1332]; R. Pattanavibool in A. N. Rao & al. (eds.), 1998: fig. 6 (seeds) [#1211].
Uses: Shoots for food; culms for construction, fencing; plants for protective screening, and biomass production (>60 t/ha).
Flowering cycle: 32–45 years [#1226, #1302]; 30–40, 47–52 years [#1320].
Seed weight: ≈60,000–75,000 seeds/kg → ≈60–75 seeds/g [#1302].
Seed viability: About 2 months under normal tropical or subtropical atmospheric humidity and temperature; maybe about 1 year under reduced humidity and low temperature.
Seeds of Bambusa bambos, as "Bambusa arundinacea", collected in Kanchanaburi, Mar. 1996. — Photo by R. Pattanavibool in A. N. Rao & al. (eds.), 1998: fig. 6 [#1211]
Seeds of Bambusa bambos as "Bambusa arundinacea, 印度刺竹 (yin du ci zhu)", collected Feb. 2012, offered by FMXG, Yunnan, China, seed weight 10 g ≈ 240–260 seeds — by courtesy of Lihua Jiang, Yunnan Bamboo, China
Specimen: BS-0173 [-], living plants, raised from seeds, of unrecorded origin, received as "Gigantochloa atroviolacea" from E. P., Germany, May 2007.
Characteristics: Culm-leaves deciduous. Culm-leaf sheaths dark maroon when young, glabrous except for a dense ring of dark brown velvety hairs at the base. Culm-leaf blade erect, persistent, much shorter than the sheath proper, triangular above with a broad sloping and wrinkled base on either side, glabrous on the outside except for the brown, pilose wrinkled portion, densely covered on the inside by dark brown appressed hairs.
Bambusa bambos (BS-0173): Young shoot
Bambusa bambos (BS-0173): Culms and a culm-leaf
Specimen: BS-0847 [-] (seeds), Tamil Nadu, India, collected in May 2015, received from D. P. S., 17 Oct. 2015.
Seed weight: 44 seeds weigh 0.6 g; → ≈73 seeds/g
Seed germination: None of the seeds germinated.
Seeds of Bambusa bambos aka Bambusa arundinacea (BS-0847)
Bambusa cf. bambos
Specimen: BS-0166 [-], living plants, raised from seeds, the seeds collected by A. L. in Kanchanaburi, western Thailand, without precise locality, in early 2014, received 28 June 2014.
Seed weight: Not recorded.
Seed germination: Test 140628, 18 of 20 seeds germinated.
Comments: This is a thorny bamboo, possibly a species of Bambusa, but unlikely to be Bambusa bambos as the culm-leaf blades are petiolated, which can be clearly seen in the photo of young shoots.
Bambusa bambos (BS-0166): Seedlings, 13th day (left); seeds (right)
Bambusa bambos (BS-0166): Young shoot