Chimonobambusa utilis

Descriptions:

(1) "Habit: Perennial. Rhizomes elongated; leptomorph. Culms erect; 300 cm long; 10 mm diam.; woody; with root thorns from the nodes. Culm-internodes quadrangular; thick-walled; purple; smooth; distally glabrous, or pubescent. Lateral branches dendroid. Branch complement three, or several. Leaves cauline. Leaf-sheaths 4.5-5 cm long. Leaf-sheath oral hairs lacking. Ligule a ciliolate membrane; 1-2 mm long; pubescent on abaxial surface; truncate, or obtuse. Collar with external ligule. Leaf-blade base with a brief petiole-like connection to sheath; petiole 0.2-0.5 cm long; petiole glabrous. Leaf-blades lanceolate, or oblong; 5.5-12.5 cm long; 12-23 mm wide; dark green and grey-green; discolorous with last colour beneath. Leaf-blade venation with 10-14 secondary veins; with distinct cross veins. Leaf-blade margins scabrous. Leaf-blade apex acuminate. … [flowers and seeds described]." — KewScience POWO, accessed 8 July 2020 [#1305].

(2) "Culms 5–7(–10) m tall, 2–3.5(–5) cm in diam.; internodes terete or slightly 4-angled, 20–30 cm, initially white pubescent; wall ca. 7 mm; nodes weakly raised, nodal ridges flat or slightly prominent, persistent culm sheath base tomentose. Culm sheaths deciduous, fulvous, with sparse, off-white spots, shorter than internodes, margins ciliate; ligule slightly arched, 0.5–1.2 mm; blade triangular-subulate, 4–7 mm, articulate. Leaves (1 or)2(–5) per ultimate branch; sheaths 3–6 cm, glabrous; ligule arcuate or truncate, 1–2 mm; pseudopetiole 2–5 mm; leaf blade lanceolate, abaxially gray-green, adaxially deep green, (5–)14–16 × (1–)2–2.5 cm, glabrous, 5–7-veined. … [flowers and seeds described]." — Flora of China, accessed 8 July 2020 [#1303].

(3) T. H. Wen, J. Amer. Bamboo Soc. 11 (1-2), 1994: p. 28 [#1176].

Images: Line drawing in Flora of China (vegetative parts), Flora of China (generative parts) [#1303].

Specimens: BS-0648 [-], BS-0648-1 [-] (living plants), raised from seeds. The seeds from FMXG, Yunnan, China, as "Chimonobambusa utilis, 金佛山方竹 (jīn fú shān fāng zhú)"; collected in 2010, but were not received; collected in early May and June 2011, and received 19 May and 21 June 2011 (BS-0648); collected in late Apr. 2012, and received 7 May 2012 (BS-0648-1); collected in Apr. 2013 and in early May 2014, but were not received.

Seed viability: Three months under normal atmospheric conditions; half a year under storage at 1–6 °C. — acc. FMXG.

Seed weight: 10 g ≈ 20–30 humid husk-wrapped seeds.

Seed germination: (1) Over 100 seeds (BS-0648) set on different growth media, atmospheric humidity >70%, 1 June 2011, a few seeds germinated, but the seedlings that remained at Baan Sammi did not survive. — (2) 40 de-husked seeds (BS-0648-1) laid on moistened tissue paper, 8 May 2012. None of the seeds germinated.

Comments:

(1) The seedlings were distributed in northern Thailand, but the current locations of the cultivated plants are unknown.

(2) Whether the imported seeds represent the species with the name under which they were received or another Chimonobambusa species could not be verified from the seeds and seedlings.