Bambusa burmanica
Bambusa burmanica Gamble, Ann. Roy. Bot. Gard. (Calcutta) 7, 1896: 35.
Thai names: ไผ่บงหนาม (phai bong nam) (Northern); วะเทอร์ (wa-thoe) (Karen). — T. Smitinand, 2001 [#1003]; BKF [#1368].
Distribution: THAILAND (North, North-East), wild, in mixed deciduous forest, and in cultivation. — MALAYSIA. — MYANMAR. — INDIA (North-East). — CHINA (South): Yunnan.
Culm size: Height 15–20 m, diameter 8–12 cm.
Descriptions
(1) "A large handsome bamboo. Culms up to 50 or 60 ft. [15 m or 18 m] in height and 4 in. [10 cm] in diameter, dull green, strong, nearly solid; nodes not much swollen, marked by a white ring of hairs below them; internodes 12 in. [30 cm] long or more. Culm-sheaths of young plants green, turning yellow at the edges, covered with appressed golden hairs on the sides, glabrous on the back, rather broader than long, rounded above; imperfect blade short, broad, cuspidate, cordately rounded at base and then again widening out into large rounded fringed auricles; ligule short, entire. Leaves of young plants 10 to 12 in. [25–30 cm] long, 1∙5 to 2 in. [3.8–5 cm] broad, oblong-lanceolate, white-hairy on both surfaces, but less so above; leaf-sheaths striate, very pubescent, furnished with a large rounded fringed auricle; [leaves] when older 8 to 10 in. [20–25 cm] long by 1 to 1∙5 in. [2.5–3.8 cm] broad, linear-lanceolate, smooth above, whitish and pubescent beneath, unequally attenuate or rounded at base into a very short ∙1 in. [2.5 mm] petiole, ending above in a subulate, setaceous, twisted, scabrous point, scabrous on the edges; main vein prominent, secondary veins 7 to 8, intermediate 5 to 8, many pellucid glands; leaf-sheath nearly glabrous, reddish-brown, keeled, ciliate on the edges, truncate at top with a small deciduous auricle and deciduous ciliæ; ligule short, minutely dentate. … [flowers and seeds described]." — J. S. Gamble, 1896: p. 35–36 [#1230].
(2) "This is a caespitose bamboo having a height of 10-20 m. Culms 7-10 cm in diameter, green, solid; nodes with white ring of hairs and waxy powder, internodes 25-40 cm long. Culm-sheaths green when young, turning pale along the margins when old, glabrous on the back, blade cordately rounded at base, apex acuminate, auricles with 1-2 mm long cilia, fringed ligule more or less entire. Leaves 25-30 cm long and 3.5-5 cm broad, oblong- lanceolate; leaf-sheath reddish brown, truncate at tip; ligule minutely dentate. …" — K. K. Seethalakshmi & al., Bamboos of India, 1998: p. 47 [#1062].
(3) "… caespitose. Rhizomes short; pachymorph. Culms erect; 1500–2000 cm long; 100 mm diam.; woody; without nodal roots. Culm-internodes terete; with small lumen, or solid; 30 cm long; dark green. Culm-nodes pubescent. Lateral branches dendroid. Culm-sheaths 0.9 times as long as wide; green; hairy on margins; convex at apex; auriculate; ciliate on shoulders. Culm-sheath ligule entire. Culm-sheath blade triangular; cordate; acute. Leaves cauline. Leaf-sheaths striately veined; pubescent. Leaf-sheath oral hairs ciliate. Leaf-sheath auricles falcate. Ligule an eciliate membrane. Collar with external ligule. Leaf-blade base with a brief petiole-like connection to sheath. Leaf-blades lanceolate, or oblong; 25–30 cm long; 40–50 mm wide. Leaf-blade surface pubescent; hairy on both sides. Leaf-blade apex acuminate. … [flowers and seeds described]." — Kew GrassBase (accessed 11 Feb. 2018) [#1335].
(4) A. J. C. Bose, Bamboos (brochure), IBG Howrah, Kolkata, 2013: p. 15 [#1260].
(5) "缅甸竹 mian dian zhu. Culms 7–8 m, 2.5–3.5 cm in diam., subsolid; internodes green, ca. 30 cm, initially sparsely brown strigose, yellow and glabrous when old; nodes slightly prominent, with rings of gray-white or yellow-white silky hairs below and above sheath scar, several basal nodes with short aerial roots. Culm sheaths deciduous, short, broad, height more than 1/2 of basal width, both surfaces distally with erect or appressed, stiff, brown hairs, apex slightly asymmetrical, arched; auricles unequal, slightly wrinkled; larger auricle slightly slanted downward to 1/5 of sheath height, oblong to oblong-lanceolate, 3–3.5 × ca. 1 cm, ends extending outside sheath margin, smaller auricle elliptic, ca. 1 × 0.8 cm; oral setae well developed; ligule ca. 3.5 mm, finely serrulate, very shortly ciliolate; blade erect, slightly asymmetrical, triangular-ovate, base cordate and joined with auricles for ca. 1 cm, ca. 5/7 width of sheath apex, adaxially with pale stiff hairs between veins, apex sharply pointed. Leaf blade linear-lanceolate, 16–25 × 1.5–3 cm, abaxially glaucous, densely pubescent, adaxially glabrous. Inflorescence unknown. … The Chinese material included here is possibly distinct from true Bambusa burmanica." — Flora of China [#1303].
Images: Line drawing in J. S. Gamble, 1896, pl. 33 [#1230]; line drawing in Flora of China [#1303]. Photo of the type specimen (from Myanmar) at Kew Herbarium 1 (culm sheath, leaves), 2 (leaves, flowers) [#1333]. Photos in A. J. C. Bose, Bamboos (brochure), IBG Howrah, Kolkata, 2013: p. 15 fig. A-D (culms, bud, culm-leaf, branches, flowers) [#1260].
Uses: Culms for construction and basketry.
Flowering and seeding: Flowering of ไผ่บงหวาน (phai bong wan), Thailand, 15 Feb. 2018: Facebook post by Mu Chakkrapong
Comments:
(1) The Thai common name, ไผ่บงหนาม (phai bong nam), has been attributed in numerous Thai publications to this species, Bambusa burmanica (e.g., A. Anantachot, 1991: p. 29 [#1041]; T. Smitinand, 2001: p. 65 [#1003]). This attribution is questionable. Obviously, the Thai name refers to a species of bamboo that has thorns (หนาม, nam = thorn). However, neither in the original description by Gamble (1896) nor in those in Kew GrassBase and Flora of China, is stated that thorns occur in Bambusa burmanica. Therefore, it is supposed that the Thai name refers to a different, thorny species. Plants from northern Thailand considered to be Bambusa burmanica are commonly named ไผ่บงหวาน (phai bong wan) (หวาน, wan = sweet). However, it cannot be excluded that some culms of these bamboos rarely develop a few thorns in the juvenile stage. Actually, one or two thorns having developed were observed, but only once in a single plant, and thorns could not be found in hundreds of other individual plants or clones observed, too.
(2) Plants from Thailand commonly identified as "Bambusa burmanica" are true Bambusa and apparently conspecific; they match well with the illustration in the Flora of China. However, it is stated therein that "the Chinese material included here [in the Flora of China] is possibly distinct from true Bambusa burmanica".
(3) Bambusa burmanica from Myanmar is recorded to be a tall species, "considerably larger than Bambusa tulda" (Gamble, 1896: 36). The plants in northern Thailand claimed to be Bambusa burmanica (represented by specimens BS-0031 and BS-0203, and by further specimens collected from the wild) do not reach the height of Bambusa tulda.
(4) When Gamble (1896) described Bambusa burmanica, he characterized the plant as "large" and "handsome". Considering the context in which Gamble used these two adjectives in describing other bamboo species, it is obvious that the plants from Thailand (specimens listed in the following), commonly named "Bambusa burmanica", do not meet the idea of being large and handsome.
(5) All the specimens from Thailand listed below (perhaps except HHK-003) are congruent with the description in the Flora of China [#1303] as cited above. They are considered conspecific, and similar to Bambusa burmanica, but perhaps they do not represent this species.
Bambusa cf. burmanica Gamble
Specimens: BS-0201 [-], living plant, received as "ไผ่กินดิบ (phai kin dip)" at Mae Cho Agricultural Fair, 9 Dec. 2008, from the cultivated stock of a nursery from Prachin Buri, eastern Thailand, the plant started flowering in January 2014 and died soon thereafter. BS-0201A [-] (seedlings, June and July 2014, died † between Feb. and July 2015.
Characteristics: Habit caespitose, tight clumping, forming impenetrable thicket by lower branching. Culms erect, often not straight, >10 m. Young shoots conical, bluish green, shooting June-July. Culm-internodes bluish-green, 38–43 cm long, diameter 3–4 (5) cm, glabrous, rough. Branches many, central dominant, 2 subdominant. Culm-leaves late deciduous, much shorter than internode, sheath, auricles and blade getting dry early and initially from their margins. Culm-leaf sheath slightly asymmetric, with patches covered with short, somewhat appressed dark brown hairs. Culm-leaf auricles large, unequal, brownish when young; oral setae long, pale. Culm-leaf blade erect. Anthers of a white body with red margins. Fruits unknown.
Uses: Shoots for food, palatable, can even be eaten raw.
Provisional identification: A species of Bambusa, similar to Bambusa burmanica.
Comments: The plant at Baan Sammi, BS-0201, became established as a clump with several culms, then started flowering in Jan. 2014, resulting in the death of nearly all culms by mid-Dec. 2014, except for 2 lower branches with still green leaves and new developing flowers, but finally died by mid-Apr. 2015; the clump showed no signs of vegetative recovery; no seeds were found in the flowers, but a few seedlings were found on the ground near the mother plant; all seedlings were potted and tried to keep in cultivation, but after a few months their blades withered and all the seedlings died for unknown reasons.
One year old seedling of Bambusa cf. burmanica (BS-0201A)
The branching pattern of a single culm node, the branches developed from 2 separate buds (BS-0203): View from 4 different positions, from left to right.
Specimen: BS-0203 [-], living plant, from Bamboo Center, Royal Project Foundation ศูนย์ไผ่ มูลนิธิโครงการหลวง T. Mae Hia, A. Mueang, Chiang Mai ต. แม่เหียะ อ. เมือง จ. เชียงใหม่, cult., as "ไผ่บงหวานเมืองเลย (phai bong wan mueang loei), Bambusa burmanica", 13 Dec. 2008.
Characteristics: Habit caespitose, tight clumping, forming impenetrable thicket by lower branching. Rhizome pachymorph, short. Culms erect, often not straight, height 9–11 m, slightly bending outwards above. Young shoots in a blend of green with red, with the upper part of culm sheath blades dark reddish, but shoots often uniform green and light farinose, thus appearing bluish-green; emerging from mid-April. Culm-internodes terete, dull or olive green when young, brownish-green when mature, covered with minute white hairs when young, rough and almost glabrous when mature, (30) 35–48 (57) cm long, (3) 3.5–4 (4.5) cm in diameter, thick-walled, solid or nearly so on basal culm (see table on culm wall thickness). Culm-nodes slightly prominent above sheath scar; sheath scar about to 1 mm marginally protruding, with soft short brown hairs; with a greenish-white band of appressed soft hairs below and above sheath scar when young; supranodal line without a ridge, 10–15 mm above the nodal line. Branch-buds solitary, usually broad and large, 3.5–4 × 2–2.3 cm, from basal node up; basal nodes usually without aerial roots but may easily develop on basal and lower nodes on disturbed or damaged culms. Branches several, from basal nodes up, central branch slightly dominant, 2 subdominant and several smaller branches; branching extravaginal (with culm-leaves persistent) on basal and lower branches, often unbranched (with culm-leaf persistent or late deciduous) on lower and mid-culm, and branching intravaginal (with culm-leaves deciduous) on upper culm; rebranching. Culm-leaves (late) deciduous or persistent. Culm-leaf sheaths thickly papery, rigid, brittle, dull or olive green to reddish brown when young, straw-colored when dry, glabrous on the middle part of the sheath, but often with short rigid bright brown to dark brown early caducous hairs on both sides of the sheath, 11–14 cm wide at the base, 16–20 cm long, about one third as long as the internode; margins pale ciliolate when young, or eciliate; apex asymmetrically rounded. Culm-leaf auricles lobe-like, erect, brown when young, straw-colored when dry, very large, of unequal size and shape, connected to both sheath and blade, one auricle connected with blade for about 1 mm, the other for about 0.5–1 cm, both auricles usually persistent to sheath but not to the caducous blade, often one or both auricles wrinkled; initially with pale, slightly waved, soon caducous short bristles. Culm-leaf ligule short, 0.5–1 mm high, denticulate. Culm-leaf blade erect, papery, late caducous or persistent, greenish on the lower part, shading to dark reddish towards apex when young, sometimes light green striped, glabrous, large, broadly triangular-lanceolate; base cordately rounded, as wide as sheath apex, partly overlapping the auricles, half as long as sheath; apex attenuate. Foliage-leaves 6–8 per branchlet. Foliage-leaf sheath dull orange and towards apex reddish when young, straw-colored when dry, initially pale hirsute, becoming glabrous early. Foliage-leaf auricles inconspicuous lobes, green or reddish when young, with a few pale erect, slightly waved bristles, 2–6 mm long. Foliage-leaf ligule inconspicuous, low, entire or subentire. Foliage-leaf blades small, linear-lanceolate to lanceolate, usually 7–13 (18) cm long and 0.9–1.5 (2.1) cm wide, mid-green above, glabrous on both surfaces, puberulous beneath when young, pale bluish green beneath, with a narrow stripe along one margin green and almost glossy; base rounded to wedge-shaped; apex attenuate; margins antrorsely scabrous; midrib proximally somewhat prominent beneath; pseudopetiole 1–2 mm long.
Local distribution: Dan Sai District (อ. ด่านซ้าย) of Loei Province in northeastern Thailand is said to be the center of cultivation of this bamboo.
Images: Photos of plants from BambooWeb.info [#1340], which apparently represent the same species as described and pictured here.
Uses: Shoots for food, young culm shoots, and branch shoots can be eaten raw; culms for firewood.
Cultivation requirements: Easy growing, thrives well in heavy moist soil with good drainage, exposed to full sun.
Provisional identification: A species of Bambusa, similar to Bambusa burmanica.
Flowering and seeding:
(1) The plant started gregarious flowering in January 2018. Flowers were not dissected. Florets developed in February; filaments free, white-glassy; anthers with white body and red margins, apex obtuse or mucronate; stigmas pinkish, plumose. Pollen predators: During anthesis, the flowers were visited by bee swarms.
(2) No seeds were found in the flowers, and initially no seedlings on the ground around the mother plant. The first seedlings were found by mid-April 2018, and soon it became obvious that they are numerous (BS-0203A [E1]).
(3) In March 2018, the flowering plant lost all of its leaves and appeared to be dying. However, from September 2018 new leaves had been developing on existing branches, and by October the foliage was unexpectedly lush, although some of the culms failed to develop leaves and appeared to be dying or had already died (October 2018). In 2019, leaves still remained or had newly been developed in some branches of a few culms (October 2019). In 2020, all of the culms and rhizomes were dead, except for two culms that still had some leafy branches, but their rhizomes began to decay, so all of the culms and rhizomes were removed in early September.
Comments:
(1) The original description of Bambusa burmanica does not mention the occurrence of thorns on culm nodes. BS-0203 has not developed thorns, but in its juvenile state, a single short thorny branch on only one node of one basal culm was detected.
(2) Several seedlings in an early stage of development (19 Apr. – 4 May 2018) were removed from the ground for a closer look. The seedlings grew out of their spikelets, which were decaying and could be removed easily to see the seed, a caryopsis. The spikelets were about 9–14 mm long, and the seed itself was usually not much longer than 2 mm (2–11 mm long, 1–3 mm thick). This tiny seed size might explain why the seed could not be felt by carefully pressing a spikelet between two fingers during the flowering of the plant. Therefore, the seeds have remained undetected. Such small seeds in a species of Bambusa seem unusual, and at least the seeds of all the other Bambusa species I have received so far were bigger.
(3) It was observed (Nov., Dec. 2016) on the culm nodes of this bamboo, BS-0203, that often more than a single branch bud has developed. A second bud is usually smaller and located almost on the opposite side of a node. If more than two buds have developed, it is not clearly visible if the additional bud(s) emerge from a common or separate base. Three culms were cut, and this pattern was documented in a table, Number of Branch Buds on Nodes of BS-0203 (Bambusa burmanica, teratological form), and in photos (BS-0203_33 – BS-0203_44e).
Bambusa cf. burmanica (BS-0203, top): Flowering branch
Bambusa cf. burmanica (BS-0203A, bottom): Seedling with seed still attached, the seed 2 mm long
The upper part of a culm-leaf of BS-0031-1: abaxial surface (left), adaxial surface (center); an old clump of BS-0031-1, with one new shoot (right)
Specimens: BS-0031 and BS-0031-1 [-], living plants, received as "ไผ่หลีจู" (phai li chu) or "ไผ่หลิ้วจู" (phai lio chu) from cultivated stock from a nursery at Kham Thiang Market, Chiang Mai, Jan. 2004; the plants are said to originate from southern China.
Characteristics: Habit a tight clump. Rhizomes pachymorph, short. Culms strong, erect, not straight, upright below, bending above, height about 7 m, to 5 cm in diameter. Young shoots dull greenish with some irregular cream streaks, glabrous, emerging from late May. Culm-internodes terete, gray-green or dull green, rough, very thick-walled, solid or nearly so throughout (from the base to the apex and including branches). Culm-nodes with a whitish band above and below the sheath scar, glabrous, light gray; sheath scar ring prominent, dark brown; without thorns; basal nodes occasionally with aerial roots. Branches initially 3, thick, with the central branch much dominant and widely curved upright, the two side branches subdominant (branches of the lower culm widely curved sideward or downward, all upper culm branches curved upward), additional but much smaller branches develop, altogether to about 20; branching intravaginal, usually acropetal, from the basal culm upward. Culm-leaves tardily deciduous. Culm-leaf sheath dull greenish when young, dull light brownish when dry, densely covered with short brown hairs chiefly on the base and both sides, glabrous or nearly so on the middle section of the sheath, apex rounded. Culm-leaf auricles lobe-like with waved extensions, very large, asymmetrical. Culm-leaf blade early caducous at the ligule. Foliage-leaves: Foliage-leaf sheath glabrous, or initially covered with minute pale hairs, green or orange-green when young, dull straw-colored when dry, upper margin occasionally orange or reddish. Foliage-leaf auricles inconspicuous; bristles few, short, pale, soon caducous. Foliage-leaf ligule inconspicuous. Foliage-leaf blades mid-green, lower surface somewhat bluish-green, the upper surface almost glossy, glabrous on both surfaces, usually 15–26 cm long, 1.7–2.7 cm wide.
Uses: Shoots for food, sweet and delicious, can be eaten raw; culms for tools. Plants are especially suitable in small gardens for shoot production, as solitary or group plants, and for hedges of medium size or screening.
Cultivation requirements: Easy-growing, thrives well in heavy, moist soil with good drainage, exposed to full sun.
Provisional identification: A species of Bambusa, similar to Bambusa burmanica.
Comments: The Thai name ไผ่หลีจู (phai li chu), or ไผ่หลิ้วจู (phai lio chu), was applied to this bamboo by the plant seller only. This name is certainly a corruption of Chinese (Thai จู, Romanized "chu" = Chinese 竹, Romanized "zhu", meaning bamboo). The meaning and derivation of หลี (li) or หลิ้ว (lio) remain unrevealed. The Chinese bamboo name 梨竹 (Romanized li zhu) refers to Melocanna arundina, and 绿竹 (Romanized lü zhu) refers to Bambusa oldhamii. Both bamboo species are quite different from Thai "Bambusa burmanica".
Specimen: HHK-003, living plant, Royal Project, Huai Hong Khrai (ห้วยฮ่องไคร้) Study Center, A. Doi Saket, Chiang Mai Province, cult., as "ไผ่บงป่า [phai bong pa] Bambusa longispatha Gamble".
Characteristics: Rhizome pachymorph, short, developing culms of tight habit. Culms erect, from basal to mid-culm somewhat bending or flexuous, upper culm also often not evenly straight. Young shoots bluish-green when emerging, with culm-leaf blades dark bluish-green. Culm-internodes green to bluish-green. Culm-nodes with a broad grayish-white ring above and below the sheath scar, nodes on the lower culm with aerial roots. Branches several, from the basal culm up, develop horizontally, or slightly descending or ascending, central branch much dominant; branching extravaginal. Culm-leaves late deciduous, or somewhat persistent and decaying on the culm. Culm-leaf sheath apex convex. Culm-leaf auricles large, or with protuberances of unequal shape, bristly. Culm-leaf blade erect.
Provisional identification: A species of Bambusa, similar to Bambusa burmanica.
Comments: Phai bong pa is similar in overall appearance to phai bong at Huai Hong Khrai, but smaller in size, and the culms are not evenly straight. The plant was labeled "Bambusa longispatha Gamble". This identification was probably adopted from the publication, T. Smitinand, Thai Plant Names, Rev. Ed. 2001, p. 65 [#1003]. Phai bong pa from Huai Hong Khrai is certainly not Dendrocalamus longispathus (synonym Bambusa longispatha), judged from comparing descriptions and illustrations of culm-leaves, culm-internodes and nodes, and the habits of both species.
"ไผ่บงป่า (phai bong pa)" (HHK-003)
Specimen: BS-0216 [-], living plant, possibly a 2 to 3-year-old seedling, received as "ไผ่หวาน (phai wan)" from cultivated stock at Kham Thiang Market, Chiang Mai, 5 May 2009.
Characteristics: Culm-leaves shorter than internodes. Culm-leaf auricles large. Culm-leaf blade erect.
Uses: Shoots for food.
Provisional identification: A species of Bambusa, similar to Bambusa burmanica.
Comments: The potted plants offered at Kham Thiang Market are very likely derived from seed and seem to be two- or three-year-old seedlings. This implies that the plants belong to a species that must have recently flowered and seeded. In years thereafter, records of flowering in Thailand of this species, usually named "ไผ่บงหวาน (phai bong wan)" or "Bambusa burmanica", became available; and also two plants at Bambusetum Baan Sammi flowered.
Specimen: BS-0237 [-], living plant, received from cultivated stock at Kham Thiang Market, Chiang Mai, 4 Aug. 2009.
Provisional identification: A species of Bambusa, similar to Bambusa burmanica.
Specimen: BS-0268 [-], living plant, raised from seeds by the Royal Agricultural Station Pangda, Samoeng District, Chiang Mai Province, received 12 Sep. 2009.
Provisional identification: A species of Bambusa, similar to Bambusa burmanica.
Specimen: BS-0409 [-], living plant, Prachin Buri Province, possibly cultivated, received from the Royal Agricultural Station Pangda, Samoeng District, Chiang Mai Province, 14 Jan. 2010.
Provisional identification: A species of Bambusa, similar to Bambusa burmanica.
Specimen: BS-0419 [-], living plants, Huai Mae Dok Daeng (ห้วยแม่ดอกแดง) valley, on a steep moist slope on the roadside (road no. 118, Chiang Mai – Chiang Rai) near ดอยผักหวาน (mountain Doi Phak Wan) (between T. Choeng Doi, A. Doi Saket, and the Royal Project, Huai Hong Khrai (ห้วยฮ่องไคร้) Study Center, A. Doi Saket, Chiang Mai Province, wild, coll. C. T., 23 Jan. 2010.
Provisional identification: A species of Bambusa, similar to Bambusa burmanica.
Specimens: MH-074-1, living plant, Bamboo Center, Royal Project Foundation ศูนย์ไผ่ มูลนิธิโครงการหลวง T. Mae Hia, A. Mueang, Chiang Mai ต. แม่เหียะ อ. เมือง จ. เชียงใหม่, cult., as "ไผ่บงหวานเมืองเลย (phai bong wan mueang loei), Bambusa cf. burmanica", sporadically flowering, 12 Feb. 2018. MH-074-2, living plant, same location, sporadically flowering, 15 Feb. 2018. MH-065, living plant, same location, cult., same names, teratological form, occasionally with more than 1 bud per node, 1 Sep. 2017.
Provisional identification: A species of Bambusa, similar to Bambusa burmanica.
Comments: At the Bamboo Center of the Royal Project Foundation, Mae Hia, there is a large plantation of "ไผ่บงหวานเมืองเลย (phai bong wan mueang loei), Bambusa cf. burmanica" whose plants are apparently clones (if the plantation comprises one or more different clones is not recorded). Photos were taken in 2008–2010 (MH-003), and in February 2018 (MH-074). In February 2018, only 2 plants were found in flower (MH-074-1, MH-074-2), and a teratological form with multiple buds was not found within this plantation.