Dendrocalamus peculiaris

Specimens: BS-0618 [-] (living plant), raised from seeds, the seeds from FMXG, Yunnan, China, as "Dendrocalamus peculiaris, 金平龙竹 (jin ping long zhu)", collected 2010, May 2011, Feb. 2012, Mar. 2015 (BS-0618), Jan. 2016 (BS-0821).

Characteristics: Habit unicaespitose, dense clump. Rhizome pachymorph, short. Culms straight, erect, bending outwards, pendulous apically, unbranched basally; ultimate length and diameter unknown (estimated 8 m long by 4.5 cm in diameter in June 2021). Young shoots conical; sheath dark hairy; culm-leaf blades spreading; emerge from June to September, occasionally as early as February. Culm-internodes terete, 25–42 cm long, dull green, covered with short whitish hairs; walls thick. Culm-nodes not or slightly prominent; nodal line horizontal or somewhat oblique, dipping slightly below the bud; nodal line marginally protruding 0.5 mm; supranodal line obscure, without a ridge, ca. 10 mm above the nodal line; with a narrow ca. 10 mm high whitish and brown sericeous band below the nodal line when young; with a whitish sericeous band between the nodal line and the supranodal line; aerial roots present on the basal and lower nodes. Branch-buds solitary, large, broad-ovate, pointed or raised above, present from the 1st or 2nd basal node up. Branches many, subequal, the central one slightly or very dominant; usually unbranched on the basal and lower culm, or with a few rudimentary slender branches on the lower culm; branching intravaginal; rebranching. Culm-leaves late deciduous. Culm-leaf sheaths parabolic, about half as long as the internode, orange-brown when young, irregularly covered with whitish and reddish hairs; apex rounded; margins pale ciliate. Culm-leaf auricles none. Culm-leaf ligule 6–10 mm high, toothed. Culm-leaf blade reflexed, narrowly triangular, about one-third as long as the sheath, dark colored. Foliage-leaves usually ca. 5 per branchlet, rarely up to 15. Foliage-leaf sheaths light green to orange green when young, initially densely or slightly pale-hairy, becoming glabrous; apex truncate; margins eciliate. Foliage-leaf auricles none. Foliage-leaf ligule 1–2 mm high, orange when young, margin with pale ca. 3 mm long ciliae. Foliage-leaf blades lanceolate, large, 20–35 × 4.5–7 cm, glabrous above, puberulent beneath, mid-green on both surfaces; base rounded to wedge-shaped; ​apex attenuate; margins antrorsely scabrous or scaberulous; midvein proximally prominent and yellowish green beneath; pseudopetiole 5–6 mm long and 3–4 mm wide.

Cultivation requirements: Easy-growing, moist, or moisture-retentive soil.

Seed viability: Three months under normal atmospheric conditions; one year in storage at 1–6 °C.

Seed weight: 10 g ≈ 170–250 dried spikelets (husk-wrapped seeds).

Seed germination: (1) Seeds (BS-0618) were placed in moistened coir 100%, in March 2011, 28–34 °C day, diffuse light, 19–22 °C night, atmospheric humidity >70%, coleoptiles emerged after 8 days, germination rate low (<40%). (2) Seeds (BS-0821) did not germinate.