Schizostachyum sp. (TH: NE)

Specimens: BS-0951 [C4, BBG] (living plant), Thailand, native, "found in northeastern" part; acc. to Mrs. Anong (อนงค์) from bamboo nursery Phai Liang Anong Sirisothon (ไผ่เลี้ยง อนงค์ สิริโสธร), Prachin Buri (ธ. บ., pers. comm. email 8 Nov. 2019), in cultivation and distributed by Phai Liang Anong Sirisothon as "ไผ่กะเสียน (phai kasian)", plant received from ธ. บ., 25 Oct. 2019.

Characteristics: Rhizome pachymorph. Culms erect, straight, to 4 m in height, to 1.5 cm in diameter. Culm internode walls thin to moderately thick, with a lumen diameter of about 1–1.5 × the wall width. Foliage-leaf auricles are low inconspicuous rims along the sheath apex, with long pale oral setae.

Uses: Culms suitable for making drinking straws.

Cultivation requirements: It is said that the plant prefers partial shade and moisture-retentive soils with good drainage.

Comments:

(1) The meaning of กะเสียน (kasian) /kàʔ sǐːan/ in the Thai bamboo name could not be determined. It was not listed in three Thai–English dictionaries. The plant distributor said it is just a name with no meaning. Google translates this word as "shift".

(2) Flowering of a species in Thailand, which seems to be ไผ่กะเสียน (phai kasian), was recorded by Tum Bamboo Garden (Facebook, 9 Nov. 2019).

(3) Saplings offered by หลอดไม้ไผ่ ไผ่หลอด (lot mai phai phai lot) (Facebook, 17 June 2021).

(4) A species of similar usage is native to northern Vietnam; acc. to Mrs. Thanh Han Pham (D. O., pers. comm., Facebook, 5 Nov. 2019). The Vietnamese plants grow on gravelly soil. However, this species, which is unlikely to be a species of Schizostachyum, seems to grow much taller (4 photos, Facebook, 11 Oct. 2019).