Bambusa pallida

Synonyms: Bambusa critica Kurz, J. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, Pt. 2, Nat. Hist. 42 (4), 1874: 250; Bambusa pseudopallida R. B. Majumdar, in S. Karthikeyan & al., Fl. Ind. Enumerat., Monocot., 1989: 275; cf. S. Dorjee & al., 2020: 4 [#1307].

Thai name: ไผ่ผิ่ว (phai phio) (Northern). — T. Smitinand, 2001 [#1003]; BKF [#1368].

Distribution: THAILAND (North, North-East). — MYANMAR. — BANGLADESH. — INDIA (North, North-East). — BHUTAN (South): lowland forests — CHINA (South): south-western Yunnan. — LAOS.

Descriptions:

(1) "Rhizomes pachymorph (branching sympodial), with short necks. Culms in clumps of 3-12 culms, erect, maximum length 15m, diameter 4-7cm, maximum diameter at breast height 6.3cm, wall 0.9-1cm thick (internodes hollow); nodes solitary in closer succession bearing roots at the lower nodes; internode maximum length 54.5cm, surface with light to dense covering of white wax at first, becoming lightly matt to slightly glossy, basal internodes with more prominent or browner wax in a ring below the node, sometimes with pale yellow vertical stripes. Branching usually intravaginal, 7-29 branches, successive orders progressively smaller, usually absent at lower nodes, branches erect if impeded by sheath, higher branching more reflexed; buds 1-1.5cm tall, 1.2-2cm wide, keels prominent and ciliate. Culm sheaths with sparse to dense, appressed dark brown hairs at first; base 15-17cm wide; height 29-32.5cm; apex width to 11cm; margins with dense dark brown cilia to 2mm; blade erect, triangular or basally cordate, deciduous, with sparse dark brown hairs at first, apically hard, margins shortly white-ciliate, much longer than sheath from mid-culm upwards, prominently rugose; ligule level to lightly arcuate, short, serrulate; auricles similar, round to mussel-shaped, to 1cm tall, to 2.2cm wide, protruding to 1.2 cm; oral setae wavy, to 2cm long. Leaf sheaths glabrous; margins glabrous; ligule very short; auricles round to mussel-shaped, 1-1.5mm, swollen; oral setae 4-13, 5-15(-20)mm, erect, wavy; pseudopetiole 0.3-0.4cm; blades linear-lanceolate, 6-10(-14), 12-19cm long, 1-2cm wide, glabrous, mid green above, paler and glaucous below, blade to blade gap 1.3-2cm. Shoots occur in June, July and August. Inflorescence not known in Bhutan." — S. Dorjee & al., J. Amer. Bamboo Soc. 30, 2020: 1-5 [#1307].

(2) "Culms to 15 m, 5.5–7.5 cm in diam.; internodes 30–57 cm, initially thinly white powdery and stiffly gray hairy; wall thin; nodes flat, basal nodes usually with a ring of gray-white silky hairs and short aerial roots when old; branching from 6th or 7th node up. Branches many, clustered, central 3 dominant. Culm sheaths deciduous, attenuate, broadly trapezoid, leathery, initially white powdery, glabrous or sparsely deciduously dull brown strigose, apex sub­truncate; auricles spreading, subequal, broadly elliptic or suborbicular, small, 5–6 mm wide; oral setae present; ligule very short; blade erect, narrowly triangular, usually longer than sheath, base slightly rounded, slightly narrower than sheath apex, sparsely stiffly deciduously dull brown hairy. Leaf blade linear-lanceolate, 10–20 × 1.2–2 cm, abaxially chalky-white. … [flowers described]." — Flora of China [#1303].

(3) Kew GrassBase [#1335].

Images: Photos in S. Dorjee & al., 2020: 1-5, fig. 1a-g, 2a-f [#1307].

Uses: Young shoots for food; culms for light construction and handicrafts; leaves for fodder; plants as ornamental bamboo.

Comments: The illustrations for Bambusa pallida in Seethalakshmi & al., Bamboos of India, 1998: p. 68 [#1062], seem to represent a different species; cf. S. Dorjee & al., 2020: 4 [#1307].