Dendrocalamus sp. (CN: Yunnan: Baoshan)

Specimens: BS-0751 [-] (living plants), raised from seeds, the seeds from FMXG, Yunnan, China, as "Dendrocalamus sp. from Baoshan, 保山龙竹 (bǎo shān lóng zhú)", seeds collected Mar./Apr. 2012, seeds received 1 and 13 June 2012; BS-0751-1 [C1] (living plant), seedling, received from China, Jan. 2013.

Characteristics: Habit caespitose, tight clump. Rhizome pachymorph, short. Culms straight, erect below, bending outwards above, tips drooping, over 10 m tall [ultimate size not yet known]. Young shoots conical; sheaths farinose-whitish with dark-colored margins; blades dark green to purplish-brown, spreading; emerge from March to July. Culm-internodes terete, (25) 40–45 (50) cm long, lower internodes greenish-white short velvety and farinose, upper internodes farinose, otherwise glabrous; appearing bluish-green, dull green with age; diameter ca. 8 cm, emerging from the ground with basal diameter ca. 20 cm and trump-shaped; walls thick (width 1.3–1.7 cm on the lower culm of 7 cm in diameter 1.6 m above the ground). Culm-nodes velvety, not or marginally prominent; nodal line horizontal, dipping slightly below the bud; sheath scar marginally protruding, ca. 1–2 mm; supranodal line clearly discernible, without a ridge, 1.5–2.5 cm above the nodal line; initially intensely whitish farinose-velvety below the nodal line, dark brown velvety between the nodal line and the sheath scar,  whitish-greyish velvety between the sheath scar and the supranodal line; aerial roots present, up to about 1 m above the ground, upper aerial roots short, hard and bluntly pointed. Branch-buds solitary, large, broader than tall, 5–6 × 3 cm, ovate to broad-triangular, from the basal nodes up. Branches several to many, unequal, the central ones from the mid-culm up very dominant, ca. 1/3–1/2 the diameter of the main axis, to ca. 4–6 m long, ascending below, arching above; subdominant branches 1–2, the other branches slender, numerous; the basal and lower culm with slender branches only; branching intravaginal, basal branching occasionally extravaginal; rebranching. Culm-leaves early deciduous. Culm-leaf sheaths bell-shaped, 15–30 cm wide near the base, 27–35 cm long, 2/3–3/4 of the internode length; thickly leathery, rigid; apricot-colored with greenish margins when young, light straw-colored with an apricot tint when dry, medium brown with a reddish tint when old; short-velvety and intensely farinose, initially with very few scattered dark brown appressed hairs, or with dense dark brown appressed hairs on the sheath base; apex rounded with the middle part slightly concavely depressed; overlapping sheath margin densely long dark brown fringed, the other margin less so, or entire. Culm-leaf auricles inconspicuous very low rims, erect, slightly waved or plated, blackish when young, glabrous, margin entire, adnate to and contiguous with the basal margin of the blade, each rim ca. 30 mm long and ca. 2–3 mm high, with or without a thickened end covered with short dark fringes. Culm-leaf ligule blackish when young, ca. 2 mm high, with long erect or waved dark brown caducous fringes ca. 4–10 mm high. Culm-leaf blades leathery, deflexed and reflexed, caducous; long narrow triangular on the lower culm, lanceolate on the mid-culm, relatively small compared to the sheath, 7–10 cm long, base 2–3 cm wide, width of the junction with the sheath apex 1/3 of the width of the depressed part of the apex; adaxial surface glabrous, or with a tuft of short dark hairs near the base; abaxial surface glabrous; dark green or dark reddish-brown to purplish-brown when young, dark brownish when dry; apex attenuate, sharp-pointed; margins scaberulous, distally incurved when young and when dry. Foliage-leaves 10–15 per branchlet. Foliage-leaf sheaths green when young, initially pale hirsute; apex truncate; margins initially pale ciliate. Foliage-leaf auricles inconspicuous or none. Foliage-leaf ligule orange-green when young, blackish when old, ca. 1 mm high, with long pale, early caducous bristles; outer ligule a low rim, glabrous. Foliage-leaf blades thick, ovate to lanceolate, large, 21–35 × (3) 5–7 cm, glabrous above, puberulent beneath when young, becoming glabrous soon, medium green; base rounded to wedge-shaped; apex attenuate; margins antrorsely scabrous; midvein proximally prominent, yellowish-green beneath; pseudopetiole 2–3 mm long.

Cultivation requirements: A strong grower, does well in full sun or partial shade, and moist soil.

Seed viability: Unknown, viability is assumed to last at least several months.

Seed weight: 10 g ≈ 80–110 dried spikelets (husk-wrapped seeds).

Seed germination: Seeds (BS-0751) laid on moistened tissue paper, in July 2012, 28–31 °C day temperature, diffuse light, 22–24 °C night temperature, atmospheric humidity >70%, beginning germination visible from the 16th day, germination rate very low (<10%), seedlings did not survive.

Comments: A species of Dendrocalamus, said to resemble Dendrocalamus latiflorus. However, the young shoots more closely resemble Dendrocalamus asper but are not that species. Young shoots, culm-nodes, culm-leaves including auricles and ligule are very similar to Dendrocalamus asper. Plants from Bao Shan have a pale velvety pubescence on the lower internodes (not brown as usually in Dendrocalamus asper), a dark brown velvety ring on the culm-nodes, and the culm-leaf sheath margins dark brown fringed (usually pale in Dendrocalamus asper). However, although the seeds look very similar to Dendrocalamus asper, they are twice the size and more than twice as heavy as Dendrocalamus asper seeds.