Schizostachyum brachycladum
Schizostachyum brachycladum (Kurz ex Munro) Kurz, J. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, Pt. 2, Nat. Hist. 39 (2), 1870: 89.
Synonym: Melocanna zollingeri var. brachyclada Kurz ex Munro, Trans. Linn. Soc. London 26 (1), 1868: 134.
Thai names: ไผ่โป (phai po) (Trang); ไผ่โพ (phai pho) (Trang). The meaning and derivation of the Thai names are not clear. โป (po) has two meanings, one of them denotes a kind of gambling game, the other means "to swell", and โพ (pho) is the name of a tree. — BKF [#1368].
Malay names: buloh nipis; buluh lemang.
Indonesian names: bambu lemang; bambu talang. Javanese name: pring lampar.
Distribution: Origin uncertain, widely planted in South-East Asia, also wild and naturalized. — THAILAND (South): Trang, in the forest, wild; also cultivated. — MALAYSIA (Peninsular, Borneo). — SINGAPORE, planted. — INDONESIA: throughout. — PHILIPPINES. — LAOS. — VIETNAM. — Wild in disturbed or secondary forests up to 600 m altitude.
Culm size: Height 15–20 m, diameter 8–10 cm.
Descriptions:
(1) "Densely tufted, sympodial bamboo. Culm erect with pendulous tip, 7–15 m tall, 7–10 cm in diameter, wall 3–5 mm thick, green, bluish-green, or golden-yellow often with narrow green stripes; internodes 30–58 cm long, smooth, usually covered with scattered white hairs when young, becoming glabrous; nodes not swollen, without root primordia. Branches arising from the midculm nodes upward, at each node with a tuft of 25–30 slender subequal branches. Culm sheath rigid, 12–27 cm × 18–35 cm, long persistent, covered with light-brown to brown hairs, junction of top of sheath with blade horizontal; blade triangular with stiff acuminate apex, 4–18 cm × 4–10 cm, erect, rigid, usually glabrous, many nerved; ligule 3 mm long, entire; auricles small, 10 mm long and 2.5 mm tall, bearing crisped bristles 4–5 mm long. Young shoots with rigid culm sheaths and hard broad blades, covered with light brown to brown hairs. Leaf blade lanceolate, 26–32 cm × 3.5–6 cm, hairy below, glabrous above; ligule short, entire; auricles very small, with long bristles. … [flowers described] … Caryopsis not known." — S. Dransfield in S. Dransfield & E. A. Widjaja (eds.), Plant Resources of South-East Asia No. 7, Bamboos, 1995: p. 132-133, fig. [#1226].
(2) H. B. Gilliland & al., Revised Flora of Malaya, vol. 3, 1971: p. 42 [#1039].
(3) K. M. Wong, Bamboos of Peninsular Malaysia, 1995: p. 167-168, fig. 94-95 [#1210].
(4) K. K. Seethalakshmi & al., Bamboos of India, 1998: p. 237 [#1062].
(5) Kew GrassBase [#1335].
(6) E. A. Widjaja, Spect. Indones. Bamboos, 2019: p. 106-109 [#1279].
Images: Line drawing in Flora of Taiwan [#1106]. Photos in E. A. Widjaja, l.c., 2019 (habit, culms, culm-leaf) [#1279].
Uses: Shoots edible but of bitter taste; culms for handicraft, flooring, panels, and basketry; internodes for cooking vessels, and water containers.
Cultivation requirements: Easy-growing, thrives well in moist sandy clay and sandy loam soil with good drainage, exposed to full sun or light shade, tolerates flooding.
Flowering cycle: Continuous flowering occurs annually or nearly so.
Seed production: Very rare.
Seed viability: Unknown, viability is assumed to last a few months.
Comments:
(1) Flowers and seeds are known. The species is known to flower frequently, nearly every year, and this sporadic flowering does not seriously harm the plant. There are usually no seeds produced.
(2) The species comprises a green wild form and two cultivated varieties with different stem colors. The cultivated varieties are rather stable but may occasionally revert to the green wild form.
Schizostachyum brachycladum 'Bali Kuning'
Synonyms: 'Bali Golden Sacred'; 'Sacred Bali'.
Thai names: ไผ่ทอง (phai thong); ไผ่สีทอง (phai si thong). The Thai word "thong" means gold. The cultivar name, Bali Kuning, refers to Bali where this bamboo is commonly planted, and to the culm color (Indonesian "kuning" means yellow).
Indonesian names: bambu panda bali; bambu bali; tiying gading.
Distribution: THAILAND, in cultivation, widely distributed. — MALAYSIA, cultivated. — INDONESIA, cultivated. — Introduced in many countries worldwide.
Local distribution: Widely and frequently planted as an ornamental in the Chiang Mai area; offered for sale at Kham Thiang Market almost throughout the year.
Culm size: Height up to 10 (12) m, diameter up to 5 (6) cm.
Specimens: BS-0191 [N3], BS-0191-1 [-], BS-0208 [S6], BS-0425 [-] (living plants), northern Thailand, cult.
Characteristics:
(1) Rhizome pachymorph, short, forming a dense clump. Culms stiffly erect. Young shoots emerge from July to October. Culm-internodes thin-walled (5th internode 120 cm above the ground with a wall 3 mm thick by 2.9 cm in culm diameter), orange-yellow, with an occasional narrow green stripe. Culm-leaf sheath yellowish brown, with red-brown hairs. Culm-leaf ligule hairy. Culm-leaf blade broadly triangular to dome-shaped, somewhat inflated. Foliage-leaf blade large, green, occasionally with one or a few narrow yellow stripes, glabrous above, pubescent beneath.
(2) Culm size: Diameter increasing with height, gradually increasing from the base to the lower mid-culm up to 11% (e.g., BS-0208: basal diameter 4.5 cm, diameter 5.0 cm on the 7th internode at 2.0 m above the ground; BS-0191: basal diameter 4.0 cm, diameter 4.3 cm on the 7th internode at 1.9 m above the ground), then remaining constant for several meters and gradually decreasing towards the top. A culm diameter that increases with the culm height between the base and the lower mid-culm has also been observed in some other species (e.g., in the genus Dendrocalamus, Gigantochloa, Melocalamus, Schizostachyum) under cultivation at Bambusetum Baan Sammi: BS-0006, BS-0078, BS-0494, BS-0550, BS-0602, BS-0724. The diameter difference can be seen with the naked eye, but is not as impressive as in BS-0550.
Uses: Culms for handicrafts, musical instruments (in both the flute and percussion families), and interior design such as ceilings; plants as garden ornamentals (usually as a solitary).
Flowering and seeding: Flowers are known; plants flower nearly every year without harm to the plants. Usually, seeds are not produced. There are 2 records from Thailand of seeding (from Doi Saket → BS-0191A, and from Hang Dong → BT, s.n.), both in 2016.
Comments:
(1) This is one of the most striking ornamental or feature bamboos, suitable for tropical and subtropical climates.
(2) This cultivar is rather stable but may occasionally revert to its green wild form. There are records of the yellow-stem variety having reverted into the green wild form (Chiang Mai, Costa Rica), and into the yellow-striped green-stem variety (Costa Rica).
Schizostachyum brachycladum 'Bali Kuning' (BS-0191): Culms, with culm-leaves
Schizostachyum brachycladum 'Bali Kuning' (BS-0191): Culms and a new shoot (left), habit (right)
Specimen: BS-0191A (seeds), from cultivated plant BS-0191 at Bambusetum Baan Sammi, Doi Saket, Chiang Mai, a low quantity of seeds collected by D. O. from Aug. to Oct. 2016.
Seed weight: 0.4 g ≈ 10 dried spikelets (husk-wrapped seeds).
Seed germination: Seeds were sown out immediately after collecting (tests 160811, 160822, 160903, 160911, 161008, 161017, 161029). 48 seeds were collected from 11 Aug. to 29 Oct. 2016, of which 46 seeds were used in 7 batches for germination tests during this period. Altogether, 12 seeds germinated (= 26%), of which 10 developed seedlings with at least a single primary leaf blade. All blades were albinistic (complete or nearly complete lack of chlorophyll pigments), and none of the seedlings survived and died within one to three weeks after developing a first leaf blade. Hence, one can assume that 'Bali Kuning' is not capable of producing seeds that can develop seedlings with sufficient chlorophyll pigments to initiate photosynthesis to survive, but the number of seeds available for tests has been too small to verify this assumption.
Comments: (1) This species, Schizostachyum brachycladum, flowers nearly every year, usually does not produce any seeds, and its flowering does not cause harm to vegetative growth. — (2) This is the first time I have found seeds of this species since the plant's inception in 2008. The fruit, a caryopsis, has a long, persistent style, which is typical for species in the genus Schizostachyum. — (3) The pseudospikelets are arranged in globose clusters and resemble flowering branches in Cephalostachyum. In Schizostachyum brachycladum and Schizostachyum zollingeri, however, the clusters are less dense and less distant apart than in Cephalostachyum pergracile.
Schizostachyum brachycladum 'Bali Kuning': Flowers on the mother plant (BS-0191) (top), seeds (BS-0191A) with lemma and palea (mid), and without lemma and palea (bottom)
One of the seedlings from seeds of Schizostachyum brachycladum 'Bali Kuning'
Specimen: BT, s.n. (seeds), Boonthammee Bamboo Garden, Hang Dong, Chiang Mai, Thailand, cult., 2016. A low quantity of seeds was found in the spikelets and collected by ธ. บ. from a single flowering plant, Schizostachyum brachycladum 'Bali Kuning', ไผ่ทอง (phai thong), in Aug. 2016.
Photos on Facebook, 7 Aug. 2016.
Seed germination: A few seeds germinated and developed seedlings. As early as after 1 week, each of the seedlings had developed one leaf-blade, and all seedlings soon thereafter died. One seedling grew to a height of 3–4 cm, developed a "yellow" [sic!] culm and a single "mid-green" [sic!] (not yellowish) leaf-blade, then died after two weeks. Unfortunately, this process was not documented by photos but confirmed by ธ. บ. (pers. comm., 15–17 Apr. 2017).
Comments: This record gives reason to assume that the yellow-stem variety of Schizostachyum brachycladum could be capable of producing viable seeds and that seedlings might develop yellow stems and green leaves, and potentially survive. Although this seems to be a rather rare occasion.
Schizostachyum brachycladum 'Bali Kuning': Seeds, de-husked, collected from a plant at Boonthammee Bamboo Garden, Hang Dong, Chiang Mai — by courtesy of คุณธรรมรัตน์ บุญธรรมมี Thammarat Boonthammee, สวนไผ่บุญธรรมมี Boonthammee Bamboo Garden
Schizostachyum brachycladum 'Bali Kuning': A germinating seed, from a plant at Boonthammee Bamboo Garden, Hang Dong, Chiang Mai — by courtesy of คุณธรรมรัตน์ บุญธรรมมี Thammarat Boonthammee, สวนไผ่บุญธรรมมี Boonthammee Bamboo Garden
Schizostachyum brachycladum 'Ratchaphruek'
Thai names: ไผ่ราชพฤกษ์ (phai ratchaphruek); ไผ่เขียวอมร (phai khiao amon); ไผ่หยกทอง (phai yok thong). The first name alludes to the garden, Royal Flora Ratchaphruek, Chiang Mai, where this variety grows; the word "khiao" in the second name means translated green, and "amon", immortal, god, and both words combined can be translated as "green deity".
English name: Royal Flora Bamboo.
Distribution: THAILAND, in cultivation, not frequent.
Local distribution: Known from Royal Flora Ratchaphruek, Mae Hia District, and from Queen Sirikit Botanic Garden, Mae Rim District, both Chiang Mai Province.
Culm size: Height up to 10 (12) m, diameter up to 5 (6) cm.
Specimens: BS-0592 [-], BS-0592-1 [-], QSBG-01, RFR-004, (living plants), northern Thailand, cult.
Characteristics: Culm green with narrow yellow stripes of varying width.
Uses: Plants as garden ornamentals.
Comments: This cultivar is rather stable but may occasionally convert into its yellow form (observed on plant BS-0592-1 at Bambusetum Baan Sammi, Aug. 2015), or revert into its green form (observed on a plant at Royal Flora Ratchaphruek, Chiang Mai, June 2009).
Schizostachyum brachycladum 'Ratchaphruek' (BS-0592-1): Section of a culm