Bambusa malingensis
Bambusa malingensis McClure, Lingnan Univ. Sci. Bull. No. 9, 1940: 11.
Thai name: ไผ่สันม้า (phai san ma).
Chinese name: 马岭竹 (mǎ lǐng zhú).
English names: Sea Breeze Bamboo; Maling Bamboo.
Distribution: THAILAND: introduced, in cultivation, rare. — CHINA (South): Hainan, native, open fields on hills; cultivated in Guangdong.
Culm size: Height 8–10 m, diameter 4–6 cm.
Descriptions:
(1) "Habit: Perennial; caespitose. Rhizomes short; pachymorph. Culms erect; 1050 cm long; 59 mm diam.; woody; without nodal roots, or with root thorns from the nodes. Culm-internodes terete; with small lumen; distally glabrous. Culm-nodes flush with internodes. Lateral branches dendroid. Branch complement several. Culm-sheaths deciduous; glabrous; truncate at apex; auriculate; with unequal auricles; setose on shoulders; shoulders with straight hairs. Culm-sheath ligule 3–4 mm high; dentate and ciliolate. Culm-sheath blade triangular; deciduous; erect. Leaves cauline. Ligule an eciliate membrane. Collar with external ligule. Leaf-blade base with a brief petiole-like connection to sheath. Leaf-blades lanceolate. Leaf-blade margins scabrous. Leaf-blade apex acuminate. Inflorescence: Flowering specimens unknown." — Kew GrassBase, accessed 13 Aug. 2020 [#1335].
(2) "Culms 8–10 m, 4–6 cm in diam., basally straight or slightly flexuose, apically suberect or slightly drooping; internodes 25–30 cm, initially thinly white powdery, glabrous except for basal ca. 5 nodes with rings of gray-white silky hairs below sheath scar; wall thick; branching from ca. 2nd node up. Branches usually solitary at basal nodes, 3 to many at mid-culm and distal nodes, central 3 branches dominant; branchlets on lower branches usually forming weak or sometimes sharp, tough thorns. Culm sheaths slightly persistent, ribbed-striate when dry, abaxially glabrous, apex obliquely truncate and arched; auricles unequal, oblong or sometimes narrowly lanceolate, adaxially and marginally with undulate slender setae; larger auricle slightly slanted downward and extending downward, ca. 5 mm, ca. 2 × size of smaller one; ligule arched or subtruncate, 3–4 mm, margin irregularly dentate and ciliolate; blade deciduous, erect, triangular or narrowly triangular, base slightly arched, narrowed, to 2/3 width of sheath apex. Leaf blade narrowly lanceolate, 8–15 × 1–1.7 cm, abaxially very sparsely pubescent or subglabrous, adaxially glabrous. Inflorescence unknown." — Flora of China, accessed 13 Aug. 2020 [#1303].
Images: Photos in plantjdx.com (culms, foliage, node) [#1345]; BambooWeb.info [#1340]; BambooCraft.net [#1341]; Caldwell (habit, culms).
Specimen: BS-0442 [BBG] (living plant), received from cultivated stock from the USA, Jan. 2010.
Characteristics: Culm-internodes initially thinly farinose, thick-walled. Branches several, from about the second node up; branchlets on the lower branches usually form weak or sometimes sharp, tough thorns. Foliage-leaf blades small.
Uses: Culms for light construction and handicrafts; plants for hedges, screening, and windbreaks.
Cultivation requirements: Easy and vigorously growing, produces a large number of culms annually; in part shade to full sun, best on 5.5–6.5 pH soils, sandy loam to clay loam, normal moisture-retentive to moist with good drainage; medium water needs. Tolerates (dry) heat and humidity, sheltered seashore sites, and wind; said to be tolerant to salt-laden wind, and assumed to be tolerant to soils of low salinity.