Bambusa sp. (CN) "Dendrocalamopsis variostriata hort."

Specimen: BS-0488 [C9] (living plant), received from Australia as "Dendrocalamopsis vario striata" in 2010.

Characteristics: Habit unicaespitose, dense. Rhizome pachymorph, short. Culms straight, erect, slightly bending outward above, ca. 3.5 m (to 5 m?) tall. Young shoots conical, green, glabrous; emerge from late January to August. Culm-internodes terete, 16–21 cm long, glabrous, smooth, green, and densely thinly farinose when young, thus appearing bluish, changing with age from green to deep brownish green with dark maroon to blackish blotches, and, ultimately, perhaps to almost entirely black color; diameter 1.2 cm (to 4 cm?); walls relatively thick (wall width and cavity width each 2 mm in a culm with a diameter of 6 mm at mid-culm); lacuna without pith. Culm-nodes glabrous, smooth, not or slightly prominent; nodal line horizontal or slightly slanted, dipping slightly below the bud; sheath scar marginally protruding 0.5 mm; supranodal line glabrous, discernible as a dark-toned slight ridge when young, ca. 5–7 mm above the nodal line; not or initially thinly farinose below the sheath scar; aerial roots none. Branch-buds solitary, subrotund, from the basal node up. Branches several, slender, unequal, the central one somewhat dominant, with 2 side branches subdominant, 60–100 cm long, initially upright inclined at an acute angle of usually less than 45° to the main axis; branching from the basal culm up, branching usually intravaginal, rarely extravaginal; rebranching. Culm-leaves deciduous. Culm-leaf sheaths 4–5 cm wide at the base, 8–9 cm long, sheath with the blade shorter than the internode, papery, glabrous, yellowish green when young, straw-colored when dry; apex convex-rounded, symmetrical; margins eciliate. Culm-leaf auricles conspicuous lobes, glabrous, erect or slightly outward-bent, ca. 1–2 mm high at the ends, of the same color as sheath and blade; margins with short pale undulated bristles. Culm-leaf ligule inconspicuous, ca. 1 mm high, entire(?). Culm-leaf blade erect, persistent, papery, lanceolate; base ca. 2.5 cm wide, constricted to 1.5 cm at the junction with the sheath apex; length ca. 7.5 cm, almost as long as the sheath length, glabrous, yellowish green when young, straw-colored when dry; apex acute to attenuate; margins eciliate. Foliage-leaves (7–) 11 (–17) per branchlet. Foliage-leaf sheaths rounded, not keeled, glabrous; margins eciliate. Foliage-leaf auricles of tiny lobes; margins with ca. 5 mm long pale erect or waved bristles. Foliage-leaf ligule inconspicuous; outer ligule a low glabrous ridge. Foliage-leaf blades thin, lanceolate, 9–15 × 1.5–2.2 cm, green and glabrous on both surfaces; base rounded; apex acute to short-attenuate; margins antrorsely scabrous; midvein proximally prominent and light green beneath, secondary veins indistinct, not tessellate; pseudopetiole short, 0.5–1 mm, or almost sessile.

Uses: Plants as solitary garden ornamentals and as potted ornamental plants.

Provisional identification: An unidentified species of Bambusa; it seems to be related to Bambusa multiplex and its allies.

Comments: The name, "Dendrocalamopsis vario striata", is applied in horticulture and is not validly published. This species should not be confused with Bambusa variostriata (W. T. Lin) L. C. Chia & H. L. Fung (synonym: Dendrocalamopsis variostriata (W. T. Lin) Keng f.), which is a different species. Both species were introduced from Australia into Thailand simultaneously in 2010.

References: Catalog of BambooLand.com.