Melocanna arundina

Synonym: Melocanna humilis Kurz, J. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, Pt. 2, Nat. Hist. 42 (4), 1874: 251.

Thai names: ไผ่เกรียบ (phai kriap) (Surat Thani); ไผ่อ้อลอ (phai o lo) (Loei). — T. Smitinand, 2001 [#1003]; BKF [#1368].

Chinese name: 梨竹 (lí zhú), translated as "pear bamboo".

Distribution: THAILAND (South): Provinces of Ranong and Surat Thani, possibly native (Classification of Bamboo, 2012 [#1223]). — MYANMAR, native. — BANGLADESH, native. — INDIA (North-East): Assam, native. — CHINA (South), cultivated.

Culm size: Height 2.5–5 m, diameter 2.5 cm.

Descriptions:

(1) "… Culms 3-5 m high, ca. 2.5 cm diameter, dark green, very hollow, nodes hardly thickened, internodes ca. 30 cm long. Culm-sheaths shining, cylindric, very short, rounded and inflated at the sinuate mouth, blade linear, subulate-acuminate, erect, decurrent into a narrow naked green stripe bordering the sinuses; ligule very short, entire. Young shoots with grooved depression at the upper part of the sheath, blade long, green, flagellate, attached to the centre of the groove. Leaves 10-15 cm long and 2-2.5 cm broad, lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, obtuse at the base, under surface slightly rough; petiole ca. 2-3 mm long, leaf-sheath glabrous, with long deciduous bristles at the minutely auricled mouth. …" — K. K. Seethalakshmi & al., Bamboos of India, 1998: p. 168 [#1062].

(2) Flora of China [#1303].

(3) Kew GrassBase [#1335].

Images: Line drawing in K. K. Seethalakshmi & al., Bamboos of India, 1998: fig. 53, p. 168 [#1062]; line drawing in Flora of China [#1303]; photo (of fruit) in H. C. Tan, 2012: 5 [#1195].

Uses: Culms for basketry and fencing.

Characteristics: Rhizomes pachymorph, long-necked.

Comments:

(1) Melocanna arundina is similar in all vegetative characteristics to Melocanna baccifera, but the former species is smaller in size.

(2) Melocanna baccifera is said not to be native to Thailand but introduced and cultivated.

(3) An unidentified species, perhaps of the genus Melocanna or Cephalostachyum, is recorded from the area of Doi Inthanon, Chiang Mai Province, northern Thailand (Kew Herbarium [#1333]).

(4) Seeds were offered by FMXG, Yunnan, China, as "Melocanna humilis, 小梨竹 (xiǎo lí zhú)", collected Apr./May 2013, but were not received. Seed weight of one seed ≈ 25 g. Seed viability is short; viability is assumed to last a few weeks.

Specimen: BS-0920 [BBG] (living plant), Myanmar, cult., received from T. H. N. as "Melocanna humilis", 7 Sep. 2017.

Comments: When the plant was received, it was too small to identify (26 Sep. 2017). Later, in 2018, the plant left Bambusetum Baan Sammi.