Dendrocalamus tibeticus

Descriptions:

(1) "Culms 12–25 m, 12–18 cm in diam.; internodes (30–)40–45(–60) cm; wall thick, 6–12 mm. Branching usually from ca. 9th node up, usually with central branch slightly dominant. Culm sheaths initially orange-brown, leathery, abaxially usually with dark brown setae, adaxially glabrous; auricles absent; ligule 2–4 mm; blade erect or slightly reflexed. Leaf sheaths 6–11 mm, glabrous; ligule truncate, 1–1.5 mm; blade broadly lanceolate, 10–32 × 2.2–4.5 cm. … [flowers described] … Fruit unknown." — Flora of China, accessed 29 Nov. 2020 [#1303].

(2) "Habit: Perennial; caespitose. Rhizomes short; pachymorph. Culms erect; pendulous at the tip; 1500–2500 cm long; 120–180 mm diam.; woody; with aerial roots from the nodes. Culm-internodes terete; 40–45 cm long; distally mealy, or glabrous. Culm-nodes flush with internodes. Lateral branches dendroid. Culm-sheaths 33–40 cm long; 1.1–1.3 times as long as wide; coriaceous; hispid; without auricles. Culm-sheath ligule 2–4 mm high; fimbriate. Culm-sheath blade lanceolate; erect; glabrous on surface, or pubescent. Leaf-sheaths glabrous on surface. Leaf-sheath auricles absent. Ligule an eciliate membrane; 1–1.5 mm long; truncate. Leaf-blade base with a brief petiole-like connection to sheath; petiole 0.4–0.6 cm long. Leaf-blades lanceolate; 10–32 cm long; 22–45 mm wide. Leaf-blade venation with 16–26 secondary veins; with obscure cross veins. Leaf-blade surface glabrous. Leaf-blade apex acuminate. … [flowers and seeds described]." — Kew GrassBase, accessed 29 Nov. 2020 [#1335].

Images: Line drawing in Flora of China [#1303]. Photo of herbarium specimen PE01606119 (leafy and flowering branch).

Characteristics: Habit caespitose, a more or less tight clump. Rhizome pachymorph, short, 30–40 cm long. Culms usually straight and erect, but aslant or ascending culms may develop, usually bending above, apically drooping, 13–15 m tall, may grow taller with age. Young shoots conical, sheaths peach-colored with greenish margins, scattered with dark hairs, culm-leaf blades spreading, dark purplish-green; emerge from July. Culm-internodes terete, 35–40 cm long, green, white mealy waxy when young, the lower culm whitish to brown velvety when young; diameter 8.5 cm at 1 m above the ground; walls very thick (wall 2.5–3 cm by 8.5 cm in diameter at 40 cm above the ground). Culm-nodes with a ring of light to mid-brown velvety hairs when young, flat; nodal line horizontal; sheath scar not or marginally protruding but 2–4 mm high, light brown, glabrous; supranodal line discernible, without a ridge, ca. 13 mm above the nodal line, with a light brown glabrous or short-velvety zone between the sheath scar and the supranodal line; aerial roots abundant, long and thin on the basal nodes, short on higher nodes, hard, present up to about 1 m from the ground. Branch-buds very large, solitary, ovate, broader than tall, ca. 5 cm wide, 3 cm high, dark brown glossy, from the basal node up. Branches several, unequal, the central one very dominant; branches arise from the mid-culm up, unbranched on the basal and lower culm but usually with short slender rudimentary branches; branching intravaginal; rebranching. Culm-leaves deciduous. Culm-leaf sheaths broadly parabolic, ca. 26 cm wide near the base, 29 cm long, little shorter than the internode on the lower culm, about 2/3 as long as the internode on the mid-culm, leathery, brittle when dry, yellowish green to peach-colored and thinly farinose when young, light straw-colored when dry, with patches of more or less dense dark brown to blackish appressed hairs; apex rounded; margins dark brown ciliate. Culm-leaf auricles inconspicuous, very low pleated glabrous rims along the margin of the sheath apex, adnate to the blade base, dark brown to blackish when young, with more or less short pale untidily curved bristles when young. Culm-leaf ligule convex-rounded, ca. 10 mm high in the middle, light or dark brown when young, dark brown when old, irregularly lacerate and cleft. Culm-leaf blades leathery, usually reflexed, persistent to the sheath, lanceolate, base somewhat constricted at the junction with the sheath apex, adaxially with scattered pale to brown hairs at the junction with the sheath apex, abaxially glabrous, dark purplish green on the basal and lower culm, and light green on the mid-culm when young, brown when dry and old; apex long pointed; margins eciliate, distally involute. Foliage-leaves about 10–13 per branchlet. Foliage-leaf sheaths green when young, covered with soft pale hairs, becoming glabrous; margins short pale ciliate or eciliate. Foliage-leaf auricles inconspicuous or none. Foliage-leaf ligule conspicuous, 2–3 mm high, reddish when young, margin with pale bristles, 2–3 mm long; outer ligule a low glabrous rim. Foliage-leaf blades lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, 24–36 (40) × 3.5–7 (9) cm, medium green, upper surface glabrous, lower surface puberulent becoming glabrous soon; base rounded to acuminate; apex attenuate; margins antrorsely scabrous; midvein proximally prominent and light green beneath; pseudopetiole 3–5 (10) mm long.

Uses: No known records.

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

Seed weight: 10 g ≈ 200–300 dried spikelets (husk-wrapped seeds).

Seed germination: Seeds (BS-0620) were placed in moistened coir at 100%, in March 2011, 28–34 °C day temperature, diffuse light, 19–22 °C night temperature, atmospheric humidity >70%, coleoptiles emerged after 8 days, germination rate low (<40%).