Schizostachyum jaculans
Schizostachyum jaculans Holttum, Kew Bull. 8 (4), 1954: 494.
Misapplied name: Schizostachyum blumei sensu Gamble, 1896: 116, p.p. [#1230].
Thai names: ไผ่เมี่ยงไฟ (phai miang fai); เมี่ยงไฟ (miang fai) (Nakhon Si Thammarat); ว่ากลอ (wa-klo) (Karen: Mae Hong Son); เฮียะ (hia) (Northern). — T. Smitinand, 2001 [#1003].
Malay name: Buloh sumpitan.
English names: Blowpipe Bamboo; Temuan Blowpipe Bamboo.
Distribution: THAILAND (South): Provinces of Satun and Narathiwat; possibly occurring in all five southernmost provinces (Classification of Bamboo, 2012 [#1223]). — MALAYSIA (Peninsular), in lowlands, usually near settlements, widespread. — CHINA (South): Hainan, in forests.
Descriptions:
(1) "Culms up to 7 m. tall by 3.5 cm. thick at the base; longest internode usually 80 cm., sometimes 125 cm., young internodes with waxy powder below the node; culm-sheaths 30 cm. long, copiously brown-hairy on the back; blade green, soon reflexed, up to 25 x 1.8 cm.; auricles about 1 mm. high but 1.7 cm. wide on each side, with pale bristles up to 1.2 cm.; ligule 2 mm. high with fringing hairs 3 mm. tall; leaf-blades up to 30 x 5 cm., stiff-hairy below; stalk up to 7 mm. long; auricles with a few bristles; ligule short. … [flowers described, seeds unknown]." — H. B. Gilliland & al., Revised Flora of Malaya, vol. 3, 1971: p. 39 [#1039].
(2) "… caespitose. Rhizomes short; pachymorph. Culms 600–700 cm long; 20–35 mm diam.; woody. Culm-internodes terete; hollow; 50–80(–125) cm long; distally pruinose. Lateral branches dendroid. Branch complement many. Culm-sheaths 15–30 cm long; pubescent; with erect hairs; with tawny hairs; truncate at apex; auriculate; with 1 mm high auricles; setose on shoulders; shoulders with 8–12 mm long hairs. Culm-sheath ligule 2 mm high; ciliate. Culm-sheath blade linear; reflexed; 10–25 cm long; 7–18 mm wide. Leaf-sheath oral hairs scanty; 5–10 mm long. Leaf-sheath auricles falcate. Ligule an eciliate membrane. Leaf-blade base with a brief petiole-like connection to sheath; petiole 0.3–0.7 cm long. Leaf-blades lanceolate; 12–30 cm long; 12–50 mm wide. Leaf-blade surface pubescent; hairy abaxially. … [flowers and seeds described]." — Kew GrassBase [#1335].
(3) "Culm sheaths green, densely covered with loose appressed and spreading golden brown hairs, the top of the sheath frequently recessed in the middle; blade linear to long-lanceolate (typically half to equal the length of the sheath), reflexed, green; auricles inconspicuous ridges with erect bristles 8–12 mm long; ligule a rim about 1 mm high with fine straight bristles 2–3 mm long. Culms to 6–7 m long, outarched sometimes to the ground, commonly 2–3.5 cm diameter; internodes 60–80(–125) cm long, dark green; nodes often with a conspicuous "shelf" left from the sheath base after it falls away. Branch complement typically a cluster of slender subequal branches, none dominant, these rebrachning further. Leaf: blades 9–25 cm long, 2–4(–7) cm wide, scantily pale short-hairy on lower side; stalk 4–9 mm long; auricles inconspicuous ridges bearing pale bristles 3–7(–12) mm long; ligule a low rim 0.5–1 mm high, with fine bristles 2–4 mm long … [flowers described]." — K. M. Wong, Bamboos of Peninsular Malaysia, 1995: p. 173-174, fig. 100 [#1210].
(4) S. Dransfield in S. Dransfield & E. A. Widjaja (eds.), Plant Resources of South-East Asia No. 7, Bamboos, 1995: p. 136-137, fig. [#1226].
(5) "Culms to 15 m long, to 1.5 cm in diam., apex long pendulous or clambering; internodes terete, to 72 cm, lower half glossy, glabrous, initially white powdery distally, with appressed red-brown hairs; wall ca. 1.5 mm thick. Branches 40–50 cm. Culm sheaths deciduous, oblong, with deciduous, stiff, red-brown hairs, base without a projection, margins glabrous, apex truncate or nearly so; auricles usually inconspicuous; oral setae 1–2 mm; ligule 1–2 mm, margin with fimbriae 8–15 mm; blade reflexed, linear-lanceolate, less than 1/2 length of sheath, abaxially glabrous, adaxially densely strigose, apex involute to acicular. Leaves 5–9 per ultimate branch; leaf blade linear-lanceolate or lanceolate, 5.5–15 × 0.6–1 cm, abaxially subglabrous, adaxially stiffly white hairy, margins glabrous, base rounded, apex acuminate. Inflorescence unknown." — Flora of China [#1303].
Images: Photo in K. M. Wong, Bamboo - The Amazing Grass, 2004: fig. 59 (culm sheath) [#1048]; photo of type specimen at Kew Herbarium (node with leafy branches) [#1333].
Uses: Culm internodes for making blow-pipes.
Comments:
(1) Perhaps the Hainan bamboo (as described in the Flora of China) represents a different species, as its culms are pendulous or clambering, reach double height by only half the diameter of the Malaysian bamboos, have narrower foliage-leaf blades with acuminate apex, and do not have a projection on the edge of the culm sheath base. The first of five photos of "S. jaculans" in T. P. Yi & al. (Iconographia Bambusoidearum Sinicarum, 2008: p. 057 [#1178]) shows the apex of a young culm-leaf which seems to be somewhat different from BS-0295.
(2) The hairs of the sheaths can cause severe itching if they come into contact with the skin.
Schizostachyum jaculans (BS-0295): Upper section of a young (left) and an old culm-leaf (right)
Schizostachyum jaculans: Outer edge of a culm-leaf sheath base with a suborbicular projection about 3 mm long and 4 (5) mm wide, present in BS-0295 (photo), BS-0045, BS-0246, and BS-0906
Specimen: BS-0295 [S4] (living plant), Malaysia, originates from the type locality, Sep. 2009.
Characteristics: Habit tight caespitose. Rhizome pachymorph, short. Culms straight, erect, bending above. Young shoots green, hairy, emerge from January/February to September/October. Culm-internodes terete, 60–100 (120) cm long, green, scattered with short appressed white hairs when young; 2.8 cm in diameter; thin-walled. Culm-nodes not prominent; with a whitish pruinose ring below when young; without aerial roots. Branch-buds solitary, from the basal nodes up. Branches many, subequal, thin; usually unbranched on the lower culm; branching intravaginal. Culm-leaves deciduous, occasionally persistent, or loosely attached to unbranched nodes of the lower culm. Culm-leaf sheath 15–20 (25) cm long, papery, green when young, dark straw-colored when old, copiously covered with stiff brown, irritant hairs; margins eciliate; the outer edge of the sheath base with a suborbicular projection about 3 mm long and 4 (5) mm wide; apex concavely truncate, about 3.5 cm wide, both sides of the apex with white straight bristles 5–20 mm long. Culm-leaf auricles inconspicuous or absent. Culm-leaf ligule very short, inconspicuous, with white straight bristles 2–4 mm long. Culm-leaf blade linear, 7–9 mm wide, reflexed, 10–12 cm long, about 1/2–2/3 of the sheath length, attachment to the sheath apex 5–7 mm wide. Foliage-leaves about 9 (11) per branchlet. Foliage-leaf sheath green, glabrous; margins eciliate. Foliage-leaf auricles inconspicuous or absent, with a few white straight bristles, 5–10 mm long. Foliage-leaf ligule inconspicuous. Foliage-leaf blade lanceolate, medium-sized, 12–30 (42) × 3.5–5 (6.5) cm, glabrous above, pubescent beneath when young; base slightly oblique, rounded to wedge-shaped; apex attenuate; margins antrorsely scabrous; midrib proximally prominent on both surfaces; pseudopetiole 7–9 mm long.
Schizostachyum jaculans (BS-0295): Foliage-leaf sheaths with long erect, fringed bristles
Specimen: BS-0045 [S6] (living plant), coll. by ธ. ล. from a very small island not far from Tarutao National Park (อุทยานแห่งชาติ ตะรุเตา) in the Andaman Sea, Satun Prov., southern Thailand, received from ศ. ส., 10 Oct. 2011.
Characteristics: No substantial differences from BS-0295 could be detected. Culm-leaf sheath with a suborbicular projection.
Comments:
(1) Flowers and seeds are unknown.
(2) The island where this bamboo was collected, as well as many other islands in the National Park, is a refuge for birds. The bamboo grows on a hill about 10 m above sea level in scrub vegetation on soil enriched with bird excreta. The low trees give little shade to the bamboos, which are thus rather exposed to the sun. (ธ. ล., pers. comm., 31 Oct. 2011).
Specimen: BS-0246 [E1] (living plants), received as "Schizostachyum sp. from Murray Island" from cultivated stock from Hawaii, USA, 24 Aug. 2009, said to originate from Murray Island (of the Torres Strait Islands archipelago), Queensland, Australia.
Characteristics: No substantial differences from BS-0295 could be detected. Culm-leaf sheath with a suborbicular projection.
Thai name: ไผ่เกาะเมอเรย์ (phai ko moere).
English name: Murray Island Bamboo.
Distribution: Australia (Queensland): Murray Island (a small island of volcanic origin, situated in the eastern section of Torres Strait, between Australia and Papua New Guinea), possibly introduced. — May also occur in the Solomon Islands.
Images: Photos in BambooLand (habit); Tallawong (habit); BambooWeb.info [#1340].
Uses: Culms used for making flutes (Solomon Island Pan Flute), and woven articles; plants for low hedges and screening.
Cultivation requirements: Easy-growing, in part shade to sun, sandy loam to clay loam, consistently moisture-retentive to moist. Plants may tolerate +3 °C and survive −2 °C.
Comments:
(1) Flowers and seeds are unknown.
(2) In online publications, this bamboo is most often referred to as Schizostachyum sp. 'Murray Island'.
Specimen: BS-0906 [BBG] (living plant), coll. from southern Thailand, without precise locality, received from T.N. as "Cephalostachyum sp.", 9 July 2016.
Characteristics: No substantial differences from BS-0295 could be detected. Culm-leaf sheath with a suborbicular projection.
Comments: Flowers and seeds are unknown.