Bambusa lapidea
Bambusa lapidea McClure, Lingnan Sci. J. 19, 1940: 531.
Synonym: Bambusa miyiensis T. P. Yi.
Thai name: No known records.
Chinese name: 油簕竹 (yóu lè zhú).
English name: Horse-hoof Bamboo.
Distribution: THAILAND: introduced, in cultivation, rare. — CHINA: native, cultivated in Guangdong, Guangxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, and Hong Kong; in plains, on hills and riversides, and near villages.
Description: "Culms 7–17 m, 4–7 cm in diam., basally straight, apically slightly drooping; internodes 20–35 cm, obviously shorter and slightly swollen near base and sometimes inconspicuously pale green striped and purple streaked, glabrous; wall 1–2 cm thick; nodes with a ring of gray-white silky hairs below and above sheath scar, several basal nodes usually with short aerial roots, lower ones with a ring of silky hairs above sheath scar; branching from basal 3rd or 4th node up. Branches usually several to many, clustered at mid-culm and basal nodes, central 3 codominant; branchlets usually specialized into weak or tough thorns. Culm sheaths tardily deciduous, leathery, glossy when fresh, ribbed-striate when dry, glabrous or stiffly hairy at basal margins only, apex subtruncate or slightly asymmetrical, arched; auricles undulate, wrinkled, inflated outward, densely hispidulous or subglabrous abaxially, unequal; larger auricle slightly decurrent, orbicular or ovate, 3.5–4 × 1–1.5 cm; small ones oblong or ovate, ca. 3 × 1–1.5 cm; ligule 4–5 mm, margin nearly entire and densely fimbriate; blade persistent, erect, inflated outward, ovate to oval, base slightly narrowed and then extended toward both sides and joined to auricles, apex abruptly acuminate, sharply tipped. Leaf blade linear-lanceolate to lanceolate, usually 8–23 × 1–2 cm, both surfaces glabrous. … [Flowers described] … New shoots Oct, fl. Aug–Sep." — Flora of China [#1303].
Images: Line drawing in Flora of China [#1303]. Photo in PPBC (habit).
Uses: Culms used for construction, scaffolding, agricultural implements, lodges, and booths.
Bambusa lapidea: Habit — from PlantPhoto.Cn
Specimens: BS-0813 [BBG] (living plants), raised from seeds, the seeds from FMXG, Yunnan, China, as "Bambusa lapidea, 油簕竹 (yóu lè zhú)", collected Mar. 2015, received May 2015; BS-0869 [BBG] (living plants), raised from seeds, of the same source, collected Dec. 2015, received Apr. 2016.
Images: Thammarat Boonthammee on Facebook, 4 Jan. 2020.
Seed viability: Unknown, viability is assumed to last more than 6 months.
Seed weight: 10 g ≈ 250–330 dried spikelets (husk-wrapped seeds).
Seed germination: 6 out of 6 seeds germinated 6 days after sowing (test 150503). Six months later, a second test (160119) also showed good germination results.
Bambusa lapidea (BS-0813): Seedlings, 7 months old
Bambusa lapidea (BS-0813): Seeds (left), germinating seeds on the 6th day (right)
Specimen: BS-0718 [SSG] (living plant), in China raised from seeds, the plant received from FMXG, China, as "18. 花叶油勒竹 (huā yè yóu lēi zhú) Bambusa lapidea (striped leaves)", 23 Nov. 2011, to be forwarded to SSG.
Comments: The plant initially had striped leaves, but with new shoots, it reverted to green leaves.