Chimonobambusa utilis
Chimonobambusa utilis (Keng) Keng f., Techn. Bull. Nat. For. Res. Bur. China No. 8 (Prelim. Stud. Chin. Bamb.), 1948: 15.
Synonym: Oreocalamus utilis Keng.
Thai name: No known records.
Chinese name: 金佛山方竹 (jīn fú shān fāng zhú).
Distribution: THAILAND: Introduced, but there is no known record of whether this species has been successfully kept in cultivation in Thailand. — CHINA (South): Guizhou, Sichuan, Yunnan, at 1,000–2,600 m altitude.
Flowering cycle: ≈40 years [#1176]; ≈60 years [#1320].
Culms of Chimonobambusa utilis — by courtesy of Lihua Jiang, Yunnan Bamboo, China
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: The seedlings were distributed in northern Thailand, but the current locations of the cultivated plants are unknown.
Chimonobambusa utilis: Seeds, humid, with their husks, a single seed without husks (left), germinating seeds, 2nd day (center), germinating seed on coir dust, 11th day (right)