Schizostachyum zollingeri
Schizostachyum zollingeri Steud., Syn. Pl. Glumac. 1 (3), 1854: 332.
Synonym: Melocanna zollingeri (Steud.) Kurz ex Munro, Trans. Linn. Soc. London 26 (1), 1868: 134.
Thai names: ไผ่เมี่ยงไฟ (phai miang fai) (Nakhon Si Thammarat); ไผ่กาบแดง (phai kap daeng) (Nakhon Si Thammarat); โป (po) (Nakhon Si Thammarat); ไผ่โป๊ะ (phai po); ไผ่เกรียบ (phai kriap). — T. Smitinand, 2001 [#1003]; BKF [#1368].
Indonesian names: bambu lampar; bambu perling; Javanese name: pring lampar.
Malay name: buloh telor.
English name: Zollinger Bamboo.
Distribution: THAILAND (South): Provinces of Krabi, Phuket, Phang Nga, and Surat Thani. — MALAYSIA: throughout the Peninsula, and in Borneo. — MYANMAR. — SINGAPORE. — INDONESIA: Sumatra, Java. — LAOS. — VIETNAM. — Grows in the evergreen rain forest, common in secondary forest, disturbed mixed forest, forest edges, and clearings; at low elevations.
Culm size: Height 15–20 m, diameter 8–10 cm.
Descriptions:
(1) "Culms up to 15 m. tall by 10 cm. thick, stiffly erect except for the drooping tip; culm-sheaths up to 15 cm. tall, with appressed shining dark brown hairs on the back; blade rigid, erect, stiff-pointed, purplish when young, very broad, usually 9 x 9 cm., pale-hairy on the upper surface; auricles 7 mm. high, spreading laterally on each side beyond the top of the sheath, carrying very close-curved bristles; ligule 4 mm. deep edge smooth or very shortly-fringed; leaf-blade up to 40 x 6.5 cm., slightly hairy on the lower surface; stalk broad, about 5 mm. long; sheath hairy when young; auricles well-developed, bristly; ligule short. … [flowers described]." — H. B. Gilliland & al., Revised Flora of Malaya, vol. 3, 1971: p. 41 [#1039].
(2) Abd. Razak Othman in S. Dransfield & E. A. Widjaja (eds.), Plant Resources of South-East Asia No. 7, Bamboos, 1995: p. 142-145, fig. [#1226].
(3) K. M. Wong, Bamboos of Peninsular Malaysia, 1995: p. 179-180, fig. 106 [#1210].
(4) Kew GrassBase [#1335].
(5) E. A. Widjaja, Spect. Indones. Bamboos, 2019: p. 114-117 [#1279].
Images: Photos in Bambooweb.info; E. A. Widjaja, l.c., 2019 (habit, young shoot, culms) [#1279].
Uses: Culms for basketry, woven mats, and handicrafts; culm sections as cooking vessels, water cylinders, and fish traps (วีรพงษ์ ฤทธิเลื่อน on Facebook, 19 June 2021); culms can be tied together to be used as a pontoon (โป๊ะ); plants can be used as garden ornamentals and for landscaping.
Cultivation requirements: Easy-growing; preferably in light shade, grows well in heavy moist soil.
Flowering cycle: Unknown, but gregarious flowering with abundant viable seed production occurred; sporadic flowering is reported to be common in Malaysia, but usually does not produce seeds [#1226].
Seed viability: Duration unknown.
Specimen: BS-0315 [E1] (living plants), southern Thailand, without precise locality, coll. by C. S. #3012, received as "Cephalostachyum sp.", 7 Nov. 2009.
Schizostachyum zollingeri (BS-0315): Shoot apex (left) and a young culm sheath (right)
Characteristics: Culms erect, tips drooping. Young shoots emerge from April to October. Culm-internodes 40–70 cm long by 5.5 cm in diameter, scattered with very short appressed white hairs, thin-walled. Branches many, subequal. Culm-leaves persistent. Culm-leaf sheath orange-brown when young, densely covered with dark brown to black hairs. Culm-leaf blade erect, lanceolate; apex sharp-pointed.
Specimen: BS-0492 [C2-R06] (living plant), from Bamboo Land, Australia, cult., received 7 June 2010.
Characteristics:
(1) Culms ca. 10 m tall by 3.6 cm in diameter. Culm-internodes 43–48 cm long. Inflorescences terminating leafy branches. — Otherwise as in BS-0315.
(2) Culm size dimensions: Basal culm 0.13 m above the ground, 2nd internode, culm diameter 3.50 cm, wall thickness 0.50 cm, lacuna diameter 2.50 cm; lower culm 1.15 m above the ground, 6th internode, diameter 3.60 cm, wall 0.40 cm, lacuna 2.80 cm; mid-culm 3.60 m above the ground, diameter 3.20 cm, wall 0.25 cm, lacuna 2.70 cm; upper culm 6.30 m above the ground, diameter 1.30 cm, wall 0.15 cm, lacuna 1.00 cm; culm was broken off at 8.00 m above the ground, apex supposedly at ca. 10 m.
Comments:
(1) A plant, 10 m tall, was sporadically flowering, which perhaps started in early 2016. The flowering was first detected on 24 May 2016 when the flowering branches had already started decaying. Further flowering branches in a late stage of development were detected on 15 Jan. 2017. Not a single seed was found, and no seedlings were found on the ground. The sporadic flowering has not caused any harm to the plant (27 Apr. 2017).
(2) Four further plants of the same species, received from 3 different locations within Thailand, and in cultivation at Baan Sammi, did not flower (checked on 27 Apr. 2017) and did not flower later either (checked until the end of April 2020).
(3) The pseudospikelets are arranged in globose clusters and resemble flowering branches in Cephalostachyum. In Schizostachyum zollingeri and Schizostachyum brachycladum, however, the clusters are less dense and less distant apart than in Cephalostachyum pergracile.
Schizostachyum zollingeri (BS-0492): Flowering branch
Specimen: BS-0533 [-] (living plant), Phuket, coll. C. S. #3033, as "Gigantochloa sp.", 26 May 2010.
Specimens: BS-0540 [BBG] (living plants), เขาพระ (Khao Phra), Songkhla Province ["Kha Phra, Satun", in err.], southern Thailand, coll. C. S. #3042, 30 May 2010; BS-0544 [-] (living plants), same location, coll. C. S. #3046, 30 May 2010.
Characteristics: Culms erect, bending above. Young shoots emerge September – October. Culm-internodes with short appressed caducous whitish hairs when young, glabrous and smooth when old, mid-green when young, light brownish green when old, thick-walled or moderately thick-walled. Culm-nodes not prominent, with a white ring below the nodes when young, the nodes on branches somewhat prominent. Branches many, subequal (no dominant branch), branching infravaginal and extravaginal. Culm-leaves deciduous, short; a sheath with its blade less than half the length of the internode. Culm-leaf sheath with some dark hairs, or without hairs, margins ciliate. Culm-leaf auricles large, with white, twisted bristles. Culm-leaf ligule low. Culm-leaf blade erect, lanceolate; apex sharp-pointed. Foliage-leaf sheath green, slightly pale hairy, apex purplish. Foliage-leaf auricles small, with many long white erect bristles. Foliage-leaf ligule bristly. Foliage-leaf blades medium-sized.
Specimens: BS-0953 [-] (living plant), เกาะช้าง (Ko Chang), Trat Province, eastern Thailand, wild, coll. ค. ส., Nov. 2021, received 10 Nov. 2021.
Comments: Photos, taken by C. S., of a culm-leaf of a mature, living plant on Elefant Island (Ko Chang) strongly suggest that this is the species Schizostachyum zollingeri. However, as far as is known, the natural range of Schizostachyum zollingeri in Thailand is limited to the southern part. Therefore, an accurate determination of the identity of BS-0953 would be very desirable.