Cephalostachyum scandens

Specimen: BS-0072 [C6] (living plant), received as "Cephalostachyum scandens, 真麻竹" from Yunnan, China, 25 Jan. 2013.

Characteristics (based on an immature plant with a culm length of about 6 m and a diameter of 2.5 cm): Habit unicaespitose, dense. Rhizome pachymorph, short. Culms straight, erect below, scandent above, tips drooping. Young shoots conical, brown hairy, culm-leaf blades green, spreading; emerge from April. Culm-internodes terete, 30–40 cm long, dull medium green, glabrous, smooth, rough on lower culm, initially farinose; walls relatively thick on lower culm (wall width 0.3 cm by 1.6 cm in diameter) and upper culm (wall width twice as large as the lumen diameter). Culm-nodes glabrous, smooth, not or slightly prominent; nodal line horizontal, somewhat protruding, dipping slightly below the bud; sheath scar not protruding; supranodal line clearly discernible, with a slight ridge, 5–12 mm above the nodal line; initially with a white ring below the nodal line; aerial roots present on the basal two nodes, short, hard. Branch-buds solitary, large, ovate, broader than tall, 2.5 × 1 cm, from the basal node up. Branches 3 to several on the lower culm, several to many on the mid and upper culm, subequal, slender and short, 60–80 cm long, usually with one very dominant and very long branch, potentially replacing the main axis, ascending; usually unbranched on the basal and lower culm; branching intravaginal; short slender branches usually not rebranching, long thick branches scandent with the tips drooping. Culm-leaves early deciduous. Culm-leaf sheaths longer than half the length of the internode on the lower culm, half the length on the mid-culm, light green and thinly farinose when young, straw-colored with yellowish tint when dry, gray when old, initially sparsely soft brown hairy, soon becoming glabrous or nearly so; apex horizontal to convex-truncate; margins long pale ciliate when young. Culm-leaf auricles inconspicuous, of very low entire rims adnate to and contiguous with the basal margin of the blade, extending towards but not reaching the sheath margin. Culm-leaf ligule high, adaxially continuous with the sheath, not articulated, medium gray to brown when young, fringed, fringes long, and medium gray to brown. Culm-leaf blades caducous, deflexed to horizontally patent, green when young. Foliage-leaves 9–11 per branchlet. Foliage-leaf sheaths light green to medium green when young, pale hirsute. Foliage-leaf auricles none. Foliage-leaf ligule conspicuous, light green to orange to reddish-brown when young, long fringed, fringes extending into long pale bristles; outer ligule a low pubescent ridge. Foliage-leaf blades soft, thin, long-lanceolate, 18–30 × 3–4 cm, glabrous above, puberulous beneath when young, becoming glabrous soon, dark green above, bluish-green beneath; base rounded to wedge-shaped, often somewhat asymmetrical; apex attenuate; margins antrorsely scabrous; midvein and parallel veins distinct throughout on both surfaces, midvein proximally prominent and yellowish green beneath; pseudopetiole 1–2 mm long. Flowers and seeds are unknown.

Cultivation requirements: Easy-growing; grows well on moisture-retentive to moist clay loam with good drainage in part shade.

Comments:

(1) The juvenile plant was believed to represent a species of Dendrocalamus, judged from its culm-leaf characteristics. It appeared to be similar to Dendrocalamus farinosus. As the plant grew larger, it turned out to be a truly scandent bamboo, with long scandent branches and drooping tips, different from Dendrocalamus farinosus.

(2) The characteristics of BS-0072 are so different from the description of Cephalostachyum scandens that it is unlikely that BS-0072 is this species. The culm-leaves of BS-0072 are more similar to those of Dendrocalamus than Cephalostachyum.