Bambusa tuldoides

Synonyms: Bambusa angulata Munro; Bambusa breviflora Munro; Bambusa fauriei Hackel; Bambusa flavonoda W. T. Lin; Bambusa longiflora W. T. Lin; Bambusa parvifolia W. T. Lin; Leleba tuldoides (Munro) Nakai.

Thai name: ไผ่ผลักเรือ (phai phlak ruea).

Chinese name: 青秆竹 (qīng gǎn zhú).

English name: Punting Pole Bamboo.

Distribution: THAILAND, said to occur in cultivation. There is one collection record (identified as Bambusa tuldoides) from northern Thailand by A. F. G. Kerr in 1921: "Chiang Mai: Muang Pan", at 450 m altitude in the deciduous jungle (Kew Herbarium [#1333]). No other record of wild occurrence is known from Thailand. — CHINA and VIETNAM: Possibly originates from southern China and Vietnam; only known in cultivation.

Culm size: Height 6–10 (15) m, diameter 3–5 cm.

Descriptions:

(1) "… Culms 6–10 m, 3–5 cm in diam., apically slightly drooping; internodes 30–36 cm, initially thinly white powdery; wall thick; nodes slightly prominent, basal 1 or 2 with rings of gray-white silky hairs below and above sheath scar; branching from base up. Branches several to many, clustered, central 3 dominant. Culm sheaths deciduous, convex and slanted along outer margin for 1/10–1/8 of length of sheath, with 1–3 pale yellow stripes toward outer margin, glabrous, apex asymmetrically arched; auricles unequal, outer one larger, ovate to ovate-elliptic, ca. 2.5 × 1–1.4 cm, slightly wrinkled; inner one smaller, ovate to elliptic, ascending, ca. 1/2 size of larger; oral setae slender, undulate; ligule 3–4 mm, laciniate, densely fimbriate; blade deciduous, erect, asymmetrically ovate-triangular to narrowly triangular, sparsely deciduously stiffly brown or pale brown strigose, base slightly rounded and then extending outward to join auricles for 5–7 mm, nearly 2/3–3/4 width of sheath apex, margin slightly wrinkled near base and fringed, apex subulate, acuminate. Leaf blade lanceolate to narrowly lanceolate, 10–18 × 1.5–2 cm, abaxially densely pubescent, adaxially glabrous or sparsely pilose near base … [flowers and seeds described]." — Flora of China [#1303].

(2) P. P. H. But & L. C. Chia in S. Dransfield & E. A. Widjaja (eds.), Plant Resources of South-East Asia No. 7, Bamboos, 1995: p. 72-74, fig. [#1226].

Images: Line drawing in Flora of China [#1303]. Photos in KewScience POWO [#1305], accessed 3 Nov. 2021 (culms, habit, flowering branch); in BambooWeb.info (culm sheath 1, 2, shoot, culms, culm node, habit) [#1340].

Uses: Shoots for food, culms for light construction, plants for screening.

Flowering cycle: ≈50 years [#1226]; ≈23 years, P. F. de Souza & al., 2020 [#1329].

Seed viability: Unknown, viability lasts more than 6 months. Male sterility occurs and leads to the non-production of seeds [#1329].

Comments:

(1) Supposedly, the location note "Chiang Mai: Muang Pan" refers to เมีองปาน (Mueang Pan) District with its Chae Son National Park (อุทยานแห่งชาติแจ้ซ้อน), adjacent to Chiang Mai Province, but located within Lampang Province and less than 100 km distant from the city of Chiang Mai.

(2) A flowering cycle of Bambusa tuldoides in southernmost America of approx. 23 years was recorded (M. Lizarazu & C. Guerreiro, Darwiniana 48(1), 2010: 25-31).

Synonym: Bambusa tuldoides f. swolleninternode (N. H. Xia) T. P. Yi.

Thai name: ไผ่น้ำเต้า (phai nam tao) (BKF [#1368]).

Chinese name: 鼓节竹 (gǔ jié zhú).

Distribution: THAILAND: An occurrence in Thailand of this cultivar is not recorded. — CHINA (South): originates from southern China, frequently cultivated in gardens.

Characteristics: Culm-internodes shortened and inflated at the basal culm, but the compression is weaker than in Bambusa ventricosa.

Uses: Ornamental garden plant.

Comments: Not to be confused with Bambusa ventricosa.