Bambusa multiplex

Synonyms: Ludolfia glaucescens Willd.; Bambusa glaucescens (Willd.) K. Koch; Arundo multiplex Lour.; Leleba multiplex (Lour.) Nakai; Bambusa nana Roxb.

Thai name: ไผ่เสฉวน (phai sechuan), "sechuan" means hermit crab.

Chinese name: 孝顺竹 (xiào shùn zhú).

Indonesian names: bambu pagar; bambu cina.

English names: Tropical Hedge Bamboo; Hedge Bamboo.

Distribution: THAILAND: in cultivation throughout Thailand, chiefly in cooler northern areas. — CHINA (South, Central, East): Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan; wild and cultivated; on low mountains and hills, and along rivers. — Nowadays it is distributed worldwide, in cultivation all over tropical and subtropical regions.

Local distribution: Not frequently planted in Chiang Mai; occasionally offered for sale at Kham Thiang Market.

Descriptions:

(1) "Culms suberect or apically slightly drooping, 1–7 m, (0.3–) 1.5–2.5 cm in diam.; internodes 30–50 cm, thinly white powdery, distally stiffly deciduously brown or dull brown hairy, especially densely so below nodes; wall usually rather thin, solid in var. riviereorum; nodes slightly prominent, glabrous; branching from 2nd or 3rd node up. Branches several to many, clustered, subequal or central slightly dominant. Culm sheaths deciduous, trapezoid, initially thinly white powdery, glabrous, asymmetrically arched, apex slanted along outer side; auricles very small to inconspicuous, oral setae few; ligule 1–1.5 mm, irregularly dentate; blade deciduous, erect, narrowly triangular, base nearly as wide as sheath apex, abaxially with scattered, stiff, dull brown hairs, adaxially scabrous, apex acuminate. Leaves 5–26 per ultimate branch; leaf blade abaxially pale glaucous, adaxially bright green, linear, 1.6–16 × 0.3–1.6 cm, abaxially densely pubescent, adaxially glabrous. … [flowers described] … Mature caryopsis unknown." — Flora of China, accessed 26 Aug. 2020 [#1303].

(2) S. Dransfield & E. A. Widjaja in S. Dransfield & E. A. Widjaja (eds.), Plant Resources of South-East Asia No. 7, Bamboos, 1995: p. 65-67, fig. [#1226].

(3) K. M. Wong, Bamboos of Peninsular Malaysia, 1995: p. 97-99 [#1210].

(4) Kew GrassBase [#1335].

(5) Flora of Taiwan [#1106].

(6) INBAR, s.a. [#1233].

Images: Line drawing in Tropicos; Flora of Taiwan [#1106]. Photos in INBAR, s.a. (habit) [#1233]; BGLA (different cultivars) [#1346]; Lihua Jiang on Facebook, 24 June 2022 (flowering branch, seeds).

Comments: Flowers and seeds are known.

Specimens: BS-0111 [C9], BS-0111-1 [-] (living plants).

Characteristics: Rhizomes pachymorph, short-necked, forming a tight clump. Culms erect, bending over from the weight of foliage, height 2–4 m, length to 6 m. Young shoots pale yellowish-green, shooting from late March to July. Culm-internodes terete, green, changing to yellowish with age (if culm exposed to the sun), covered with short, rough white hairs when young and slightly scabrous to touch, glabrous and smooth when old; diameter 1 cm. Culm-nodes not prominent, glabrous. Branch-bud solitary, developing into several (over 10) small subequal branches. Branches short, also present on the lower part of the culm; branching intravaginal. Culm-leaves late deciduous, loosen from the sides, remain attached at the middle part of the sheath base, then drop. Culm-leaf sheath with the sheath blade long-triangle shaped, with inconspicuous auricles and long setae, sheath ligule not present, sheath with the sheath blade pale to mid-straw-colored when dry, glabrous, inner side of the sheath shiny, inner side of the sheath blade dull. Foliage-leaf auricles inconspicuous, oral setae 3–7 mm long, pale. Foliage-leaf ligule present. Foliage leaf blades green, glossy green above, dull bluish-green beneath, glabrous above, initially puberulent beneath, becoming glabrous with age, small, usually 4–11 cm × 8–13 mm, apical leaf blades somewhat larger.

Uses: Plants for hedges and screening.

Cultivation requirements: Easy growing in heavy moist soil with good drainage, exposed to half shade or full sun.

Comments:

(1) This bamboo, with its green stems and leaves, probably represents the parent plant of all the named cultivated varieties of this species. The parent plant is sometimes named 'Greenhedge' or 'Hedge' to distinguish it from all the other varieties of the Hedge Bamboo.

(2) Two botanical names, Bambusa multiplex (based on Arundo multiplex Lour.) and Bambusa nana Roxb., have been applied to the Hedge Bamboo, the latter widely considered a synonym of Bambusa multiplex (#1093: 7-8) (#1094: Bambusa multiplex, in: Distribution of Bamboos in India). Supposedly, the names Bambusa multiplex and Bambusa nana have been applied over decades erroneously to more than one species, especially in the case when it is stated that Bambusa multiplex can grow over 10 m tall ("can attain 40 feet in height" BGLA [#1346]; up to 15 m tall, INBAR, s.a. [#1233]). In Chiang Mai or elsewhere in Thailand, ×Thyrsocalamus liang, also known as ไผ่เลี้ยง (phai liang), can reach culm heights of 15 m, and it is sometimes misidentified as Bambusa multiplex or Bambusa nana.

(3) In 2008, two plants of the Hedge Bamboo, grown at Bambusetum Baan Sammi, showed characteristics of beginning sporadic flowering: Several twigs thickened, and foliage leaf blades reduced their size. However, flowers did not emerge. A search on the Internet for recent records of flowering of the Hedge Bamboo remained without results except for a single unconfirmed flowering record from England in March 2008.

(4) Photos of flowers of Bambusa multiplex 'Alphonse Karr' (from Florida, USA) are shown on bambooWeb.info [#1340].

(5) This species has developed many different forms, of which a few are known to be cultivated in Thailand.

Thai name: ไผ่แคน (phai khaen); "khaen" means mouth organ.

English name: Golden Goddess Hedge Bamboo.

Distribution: In Thailand, occasionally found cultivated.

Synonyms: Bambusa multiplex 'Viridistriata'; Bambusa nana f. viridistriata Makino ex I. Tsuboi.

Thai name: ไผ่เสฉวน (phai sechuan).

English name: Stripestem Fernleaf Hedge Bamboo.

Distribution: In Thailand, occasionally found cultivated.

Culm size: Height 3–4 m, diameter 1.5 cm.

Images: Photos MrBamboo (habit), BambooWholesale (habit, foliage).