Gigantochloa sp. (TH) 3

Specimen: BS-0596 [BBG] (living plant), eastern or northeastern Thailand, without precise locality, from cultivated stock, received as "ไผ่นกเขา (phai nok khao)", 1 Dec. 2010.

Characteristics: Rhizome pachymorph. Culm erect, straight. Young shoots emerge from June. Culm-internode covered with whitish fuzz, becoming scabrous with age; walls thick, the cavity filled with pith (at least in the lower culm). Culm-node not prominent. Branches several, the central one much dominant, side branches slender, subequal; branching intravaginal. Culm-leaves deciduous, very short. Culm-leaf sheath length 1/3 to 1/5 of the internode length, light green when young, light straw-colored when dry, darker when old; abaxial surface densely covered with brown (initially white, turning light brown, finally dark brown or blackish) hairs on the lower part of the sheath, the upper part of the sheath glabrous or nearly so; margin eciliate. Culm-leaf auricles rim-like, eciliate, extending from the blade base towards the sheath margin by moderately increasing their height and ending as erect, tall ovate glabrous lobes, light green and almost glossy when young, rim and lobe loosely connected (the lobe might be caducous). Culm-leaf ligule very long, parabolic rounded, entire, eciliate, reddish-brown when young, brown when dry, occasionally deeply cleft when dry and old. Culm-leaf blade lanceolate, rather long (apical blades in young shoots longer than the sheaths), strongly reflexed, densely hairy in the middle part near the base on the upper surface. Foliage-leaves to ca. 12 per branchlet. Foliage-leaf sheath keeled, glabrous; margins eciliate. Foliage-leaf auricles inconspicuous or absent, without bristles. Foliage-leaf ligule long, margin entire. Foliage-leaf blade lanceolate, base rounded to cuneate; apex attenuate; pseudopetiole short.

Comments: The identification of BS-0596 remains unresolved. It is most likely a species of the genus Gigantochloa. There are similarities with Gigantochloa albociliata and with a still unidentified Gigantochloa species from Laos, BS-0924. Since the plant has left Bambusetum Baan Sammi, it cannot be re-examined.