Dendrocalamus birmanicus

Dendrocalamus birmanicus A. Camus, Bull. Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat., Ser. II, iv, 1932: 1044.

- Synonym: Sinocalamus birmanicus (A. Camus) W. T. Lin, Bamboo Res. No. 42, 1990: 6.
- Thai name: no known records.
- Chinese name: 缅甸龙竹 (miǎn diàn lóng zhú), 缅甸 = Myanmar.
- English name: Myanmar Dragon Bamboo.
- Distribution: THAILAND: no known records, but the species might occur in Thailand's borderland areas with the Shan state of Myanmar. — MYANMAR: south-eastern Shan. — CHINA (South): Yunnan.
- Descriptions:
- (1) "Culms 7–10 m, to 8 cm in diam.; internodes 20–28 cm. Branches several, main mid-culm ones 3. Culm sheaths deciduous, shorter than internodes, leathery or thickly papery; auricles small; ligule 3–4 mm, serrulate; blade reflexed, 6–10 cm, adaxially setose. Leaf sheaths thinly white powdery, glabrous; ligule ca. 1 mm; serrulate; blade 16–20 × 1.5–2.5 cm. … [flowrs described] … Fruit unknown." — Flora of China, accessed 6 Nov. 2020 [#1303].
- (2) "Habit: Perennial; caespitose. Rhizomes short; pachymorph. Culms erect; woody. Culm-internodes terete. Lateral branches dendroid. Leaf-sheaths pubescent. Ligule an eciliate membrane; truncate. Leaf-blade base with a brief petiole-like connection to sheath. Leaf-blades lanceolate; 20–22 cm long; 23–35 mm wide. Leaf-blade venation with 1 secondary veins. Leaf-blade surface pubescent; hairy abaxially. Leaf-blade margins scabrous. Leaf-blade apex acuminate. … [flowers and seeds described]." — Kew GrassBase, accessed 6 Nov. 2020 [#1335].
- Images: Line drawing in Flora of China [#1303].
- Seed viability: Unknown, viability assumed to last at least several months.
- Comments: This species is not recorded from Thailand but could possibly occur in areas near Myanmar. Some bamboo in Thailand identified as Dendrocalamus barbatus or Dendrocalamus membranaceus might turn out to be true Dendrocalamus birmanicus.

- Specimen: BS-0525 [†] (living plant), raised from seeds received as "Dendrocalamus birmanicus" from seed supplier E. P., Germany, 19 Jan. 2011, who possibly received those seeds from China in 2010.
- Seed weight: Not recorded.
- Seed germination: Not recorded.
- Comments: This is a species of Dendrocalamus but not Dendrocalamus birmanicus as foliage-leaf sheaths are densely pale soft-hairy throughout, not glabrous (as in Dendrocalamus birmanicus), and leaf sheath ligule is ciliate (eciliate in Dendrocalamus birmanicus). The seedling died in July 2016.

Dendrocalamus birmanicus: Culms of a flowering plant — by courtesy of Lihua Jiang, Yunnan Bamboo, China

BS-0525: Young seedling

- Specimens: BS-0728 [-] (living plants), raised from seeds received from China, 23 Jan. 2012.