Melocalamus compactiflorus
Melocalamus compactiflorus (Kurz) Benth. in Benth. & Hooker f., Gen. Pl. 3 (2), 1883: 1212.
Synonyms: Pseudostachyum compactiflorum Kurz, J. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, Pt. 2, Nat. Hist. 42 (4), 1874: 252; Dinochloa compactiflora (Kurz) McClure, Bull. Misc. Inform. Kew 1936 (4), 1936: 253.
Thai names: ไผ่หางช้าง (phai hang chang) (Central), "hang chang" translated: elephant tail; บุ (bu), เบ๊าะ (bo), ว่าเบ๊าะ (wa-bo) (Karen: Mae Hong Son); ไผ่ไล่เครือ (phai lai khruea) (Mae Hong Son); ไผ่ไล่มง (phai lai mong) (Chiang Mai); ไผ่ไส้ตัน (phai sai tan) (Phrae), "sai tan" translated: solid; ซายวาล (sai wan) (Loei); ไผ่เครือวัลย์ (phai khruea wan), "khruea" translated: vine, climber, creeper, "wan": vine, creeper; ไผ่ซายวาล (phai sai wan). — T. Smitinand, 2001 [#1003]; BKF [#1368].
English names: Bangladesh Scrambling Bamboo, Climbing Pear Bamboo.
Distribution: THAILAND (North, North-East): Chiang Mai Province: ดอยอินทนนท์ (Doi Inthanon), in open ground and wastelands, at 1,500 m altitude; Chom Thong District: ดอยผ้าขาว (Doi Pha Khao) ["Doi Pa Kao"], in evergreen forest, at 1,300 m altitude; Fang District: ดอยผ้าห่มปก (Doi Phahom Pok) ["Doi Pahom Pok"], in an old clearing, at 1,600 m alt.; Mae Hong Son Province: ดอยขุนห้วยโป่ง (Doi Khun Huai Pong), common in evergreen forest and open slopes, at 1,700 m alt.; Loei Province: เขตรักษาพันธุ์สัตว์ป่าภูหลวง (Phu Luang Wildlife Sanctuary), 1,400 m altitude (H. G. P., pers. comm., Facebook, 14 Oct. 2017). — MYANMAR. — BANGLADESH. — INDIA (North-East), frequently between 1,200 and 1,800 m altitude, rarely below 900 m. — CHINA (South). — VIETNAM.
Culm size: Length 10–15 (40) m, diameter 1.5–2.5 (3) cm.
Descriptions:
(1) "This is an elegant climbing bamboo. Culms solid, grayish-green, rough, scandent, spreading, climbing over tall trees, 10-33 m long and 1.2-2.5 cm diameter; nodes swollen, whitish; internodes 30-62 cm long. Culm-sheaths about 15 cm long and 8 cm broad, persistent, hard, brittle, cylindrical, smooth or covered with white appressed hairs; blade more or less equal to the length of the sheath, recurved, long-acuminate, rounded at the base; auricle narrow, dark, crescent-shaped, fringed with stiff bristles; ligule narrow, entire. Young shoots spear-shaped, glabrous. Leaves 15-25 cm long and 2.5-5 cm broad, oblong-lanceolate, subulate towards apex and ending in a twisted point, base rounded; petiole 3-5 mm long and hairy; leaf-sheath striate with appressed white hairs when young, glabrous on maturity, mouth truncate; ligule very small, entire; auricle lunate, reflexed, fringed with stiff bristles, early caducous. …" — K. K. Seethalakshmi & al., Bamboos of India, 1998: p. 144 [#1062].
(2) "Culms to 40 m, 1.5–5 cm in diam.; internodes initially green, becoming gray-green, 25–35 cm, solid or nearly so; wall thick; nodes slightly thickened, each with a white ring below. Branches several, main mid-culm ones to 10 m. Culm sheaths pale brown, ca. 1/2 as long as internodes, leathery, appressed pubescent, margins ciliate, apex truncate; auricles conspicuous; ligule 1–5 mm, ciliate or fimbriate; blade recurved, base ca. 3/4 as wide as sheath apex. Leaf sheaths white pubescent, margins ciliate; ligule very short, pubescent; auricles and oral setae conspicuous; blade lanceolate, 7.5–15 × 0.7–1.2 cm. … [flowers and seeds described]." — Flora of China [#1303].
(3) "… Rhizomes short; pachymorph. Culms scandent; 500–850 cm long; 15–25 mm diam.; woody. Culm-internodes terete; thin-walled; 30–60 cm long. Lateral branches dendroid. Bud complement 1. Branch complement several; in a horizontal line; with 1 branch dominant. Culm-sheaths persistent; glabrous, or pubescent. Culm-sheath blade lanceolate, or ovate; reflexed; 5–15 cm long. Leaf-sheath oral hairs setose. Leaf-sheath auricles falcate. Ligule an eciliate membrane. Leaf-blade base with a brief petiole-like connection to sheath. Leaf-blades oblong; 15–25 cm long; 25–50 mm wide. Leaf-blade venation with obscure cross veins. Leaf-blade apex acuminate. …" — Kew GrassBase [#1335].
Images: Line drawing in J. S. Gamble, Bambuseae Brit. India, 1896: pl. 84 [#1230]; line drawing (of var. fimbriatus) in Flora of China [#1303]; line drawing in K. K. Seethalakshmi & al., Bamboos of India, 1998: fig. 42, p. 144 [#1062]. Photo in K. M. Wong, Bamboo - The Amazing Grass, 2004: fig. 41 (habit) [#1048].
Uses: Culms are used for basketry.
Flowering and fruiting: North-East India: "… flowered gregariously, set seed and died in 2011-2012. The reported flowering cycle of the species is ~45 yrs. …" — M. C. Das &al., 2016 [#1378].
Comments:
(1) The species comprises two varieties: Melocalamus compactiflorus var. compactiflorus ("culm sheath ligule not fimbriate"); Melocalamus compactiflorus var. fimbriatus ("culm sheath ligule fimbriate") (Flora of China).
(2) There is an unidentified species of Melocalamus recorded from อุทยานแห่งชาติแม่วงก์ (Mae Wong National Park), Kamphaeng Phet Province, central Thailand, at 900–1,140 m altitude; local name ไผ่เลื้อย (phai lueai) ["phai luei"] (Kew Herbarium [#1333]).
Melocalamus compactiflorus cl. Mae Taeng, Thailand
Melocalamus compactiflorus (BS-0029), from left to right: Young shoot, young node, young internode, single branch almost as thick as the main culm, multiple thin branches, young culm
Specimen: BS-0029 [S6] (living plant), received as "Melocalamus sp., large", near Huai Nam Dang National Park (อุทยานแห่งชาติห้วยน้ำดัง), Pa Pae [between Mae Taeng and Pai], Mae Taeng Distr., Chiang Mai Prov., northern Thailand; wild, in secondary forest with pines and hardwoods, coll. Cliff Sussman (CS-3092), 28 July 2011.
Characteristics: Habit caespitose, a more or less tight clump. Rhizome pachymorph [n.v.]. Culms longer than 10 m, erect, not straight, the basal culms usually unbranched, the lower culms upright, the upper culms leaning into nearby vegetation and scrambling. Young shoots conical, dark green, scattered with white fuzz, the shoot apex with large short-lanceolate reflexed green culm-leaf blades; emerging March – September. Culm-internodes terete, mid-green to dark-green, brownish when old, covered with short white fuzz when young, glabrous or nearly so when old, 30–45 cm long on the lower culm, diameter 2.5 cm [ultimate internode size not known]; solid or nearly so on the basal culm, thick-walled on the lower culm (diameter 1.6 cm, lacuna 0.7 cm, wall 0.45 cm), thin-walled on the upper culm and easy to split (diameter 0.7–0.3 cm, wall 1.5–1 mm). Culm-nodes with a clearly discernible supranodal line and with a slight ridge; sheath scar with a ring of long pale downy hairs (hardly or late caducous in old culms), with a white tomentose ring below the sheath scar. Branch-buds solitary, large, from the basal node up. Branches single (mainly on the lower culm), nearly as thick as the main culm, or, branches few to several (on the mid-culm and upper culm), subequal, with or without one central dominant branch, the smaller branches short and occasionally rebranching, the dominant branch always rebranching (and may develop as a major axis); branching intravaginal. Culm-leaves persistent or late deciduous, often remaining wrapped around the internode while detached from the sheath scar ring, green, light brownish when dry. Culm-leaf sheath 14–16 cm long, one-third as long as the internode length, or little less than half the internode length, thick-papery, scattered with short white fuzz when young, almost glabrous when old, the base with long pale downy hairs, outer margin with short pale caducous cilia, inner margin eciliate(?), apex truncate. Culm-leaf auricles large, projecting, crescent-shaped, about 15 mm long and 7 mm wide in the middle, purplish to blackish when young, with waved pale bristles 2–5 mm long. Culm-leaf ligule less than 1 mm high, entire, eciliate. Culm-leaf blade reflexed to strongly reflexed, as long as the sheath, persistent to the sheath or caducous, rigid, lanceolate, glabrous on both surfaces, green with a reddish tint when young, straw-colored when dry, then sometimes waved and twisted. Foliage-leaves (6) 12 (14) per branchlet. Foliage leaf sheath glabrous, keeled, green. Foliage-leaf auricles conspicuous, projecting, sickle-shaped to rounded, purplish to orange when young, with waved pale late-caducous bristles. Foliage-leaf ligule inconspicuous. Foliage-leaf blades (18) 23–30 (35) × (4) 5.5–7.5 (9) cm, glabrous on both surfaces, lanceolate; base rounded to cuneate; apex attenuate; one margin antrorsely scabrous, the other margin smooth, not scaberulous; midrib proximally slightly prominent on both surfaces; pseudopetiole 1–2 mm long, glabrous. — Flowers and fruits known from the collection site (photos taken 26 July 2011). Fruits are fleshy, spheroid, tuberculate.
Melocalamus compactiflorus (BS-0029): Young culm-leaf, showing the sheath apex with crescent-shaped auricles and the reflexed blade
Comments:
(1) The culm nodes have a conspicuous and long-lasting ring of downy hairs. However, in the descriptions of Melocalamus compactiflorus. this feature is not stated.
(2) The wall thickness could not yet be observed in detail at different sections of the culm and branches. Internodes of the basal culms were found solid on culms with a thick diameter, and hollow on culms with a small diameter. Wall thickness in lower culms of diameter 0.9 cm was 2.5 mm, and in culms of diameter 0.7 cm was 1.5 mm.
Melocalamus compactiflorus fruits, Mae Hong Son, Thailand
Specimen: BS-0818 [-] (fruits), received as "Melocalamus compactiflorus", without precise locality, Mae Hong Son Province, northern Thailand, collected by ว. ร., "คุณไผ่หวาน (Khun Phai Wan)", Mar. 2015, received 18 Apr. 2015.
Seed weight: 5 g ≈ 2–10 seeds, with seeds from seed Ø 2.0 cm ≈ 4 g to Ø 3.5 cm ≈ 23 g.
Seed viability: Apparently, seed viability is rather short. It is assumed that seeds in a dry stage will lose viability within a few weeks, perhaps within 3 weeks to 2 months. It is not known if the viability of seeds in a stage that is not too dry but somewhat humid will last longer. A viability test (with seeds collected Apr. 2015) was started with 24 dry seeds of a total weight of 193 g on 6 Aug. 2015. The seeds were soaked in clean water for 3 days, thus having gained 175% of their weight on the 2nd day. On the 6th day, and thereafter, the seeds did not show any sign of initiating the germination process.
Seed germination: 10 seeds of small, medium, and large sizes were selected for a germination test. The seeds were cleaned with a mild fungicide solution (Captan) upon arrival. One seed that germinated before arrival was wrapped in wet tissue paper, and separately set in a closed, transparent box. The shoot of this seed continued its germination process by developing chlorophyll and taller growth. Nine other seeds were soaked in clear water for 30 hours, then wrapped in wet tissue paper, and set in three transparent plastic boxes. The first two seeds developed a shoot as early as the 2nd day, and on the 6th day, seven seeds sprouted. The shoots are amazingly thick and fast-growing. The shoot diameter is 4 mm (and even 9 mm on the base), and the tallest shoot has reached a height of 15 cm already on the 12th day. (Test 150419 and 150420). Altogether, 10 fruits of different sizes were selected for germination, of which 7 developed into healthy seedlings in early May 2015. If viviparous germination occurs in populations under humid conditions (as recorded for Melocanna baccifera in India) is not known.
Flowering: (1) Flowering records in Thailand, presumably all referring to the same species with fleshy fruits, are from several provinces: Chiang Mai, Mae Hong Son, Tak (Apr. 2015). — (2) Flowering cycle: An estimated flowering cycle of 47 ±3 years was recorded for Melocalamus compactiflorus (Bamboo and Rattan Genetic Resources in Certain Asian Countries, IPGRI, 1998, p. 20).
Further reading: สวนไผ่บงหวาน เพชรน้ำผึ้ง, on Facebook, 4 Apr. 2015, and 7 Apr. 2015; Ratkawee Boonmake, on Facebook, 9 Apr. 2015.
Comments: Melocalamus compactiflorus, ไผ่เครือวัลย์ (phai khruea wan), ไผ่ซายวาล (phai sai wan), or ไผ่ไส้ตัน (phai sai tan), is known to be a native of Thailand. The fruit of M. compactiflorus has a smooth skin. This can be seen from the photo in Dr. Sarawood Sungkaew's (สราวุธ สังข์แก้ว) book, Bamboo of Thailand (ไผ่ในเมืองไทย), 2011 C.E., page 175. Further, I was told that the type specimen of M. compactiflorus, hold in the Herbarium of the British Museum, shows a fruit with an outer skin that is smooth, too. However, the outer skin of the fruit of the Mae Hong Son bamboo is not smooth but has tubercles (warty outgrowth). This may be caused by drought or seed storage, or it may be due to a variation within the species. (Facebook, 7 Apr. 2015).
Habitat of Melocalamus compactiflorus in Mae Hong Son Province, northern Thailand — by courtesy of คุณวรรณบดี รักษา Wannabodi Ragsa (Khun Phai Wan), สวนไผ่บงหวาน เพชรน้ำผึ้ง, A. Den Chai, Phrae
Flowering of Melocalamus compactiflorus in Mae Hong Son Province, northern Thailand — by courtesy of คุณวรรณบดี รักษา Wannabodi Ragsa (Khun Phai Wan), สวนไผ่บงหวาน เพชรน้ำผึ้ง, A. Den Chai, Phrae
Melocalamus compactiflorus: Fruits from Mae Hong Son Province (left), germinating fruit, BS-0818 (right)
Melocalamus compactiflorus (BS-0818): Seven seedlings, 24th(!) day
Melocalamus compactiflorus fruit, Shan State, Myanmar
Specimen: BS-0832 [-] (fruit), Shan State, Myanmar, without precise locality, collected Apr. 2015, received from A., Myanmar, 26 May 2015.
Seed weight: Not recorded.
Seed germination: The seed did not germinate; possibly it was no longer viable at that time.
Melocalamus compactiflorus (BS-0832): Seed, dry
Melocalamus compactiflorus fruit, China
Comments: Seeds offered by FMXG, Yunnan, China, as "Melocalamus compactiflorus, 梨藤竹 (lí téng zhú)", collected Apr. 2012; a seed weighs ≈ 31–36 g. Seeds were not received.
Melocalamus compactiflorus: Seeds, the seed on the right cut in half — by courtesy of Lihua Jiang, Yunnan Bamboo, China