Gigantochloa kuring

Malay name: Buluh kuring; "kuring" = stripes.

Distribution: THAILAND: in cultivation, rare, introduced from a population in Kedah, Malaysia. MALAYSIA (Peninsular): northern part, native. INDONESIA: Sumatra, Java, Bali, native; lowlands 50–150 m altitude.

Descriptions:

(1) "Shoots green, often with yellow to pinkish stripes, or orange, covered by brown to blackish hairs. Culms up to 25 m high, straight; young culms with white wax, and covered by scattered black hairs, when old glabrous green with yellow stripes, or green with pinkish or purplish stripes; internodes 30-49 cm long by 2-7 cm in diameter; walls 8-10 mm thick. Culm leaves persistent, basal sheaths hairy with appressed black hairs, sheath 10.5-16 cm long, sheath apex slightly upcurved in the middle; auricles rim-like, up to 4 mm high, bristles up to 7 mm long; ligule denticulate, 2-3 mm high, bristles up to 4 mm long; blade deflexed, triangular, 4.5-14.5 by 1.5-3.5 cm, base narrowly attached to the sheath apex (0.8-1.2 cm wide), adaxially slightly hairy. Leaf blades 12.3-23.9 by 1.6-2.2 cm, glabrous; auricles small and rounded, sheath extension curved inward, 1-2 mm high, bristles up to 3 mm long; ligule denticulate, up to 2 mm high, bristles 2-3 mm long. … [flowers described]." — E. A. Widjaja, 1997: 86 [#1352].

(2) "… Rhizomes short; pachymorph. Culms erect; 2000–2500 cm long; 20–70 mm diam.; woody. Culm-internodes terete; with small lumen; 30–50 cm long; mid-green and yellow, or purple; striped; distally pruinose and pilose (when young). Lateral branches dendroid. Culm-sheaths persistent; 10.5–16 cm long; hispid; with appressed hairs; with black hairs; convex at apex; auriculate; with obtuse auricles; with 4 mm high auricles; setose on shoulders; shoulders with 7 mm long hairs. Culm-sheath ligule 2–3 mm high; dentate. Culm-sheath blade ovate; narrower than sheath; reflexed; 4.5–14.5 cm long; 15–35 mm wide; pubescent (sparsely). Leaf-sheath oral hairs setose; 3 mm long. Leaf-sheath auricles falcate; 1–2 mm long. Ligule a ciliate membrane. Collar with external ligule. Leaf-blade base with a brief petiole-like connection to sheath. Leaf-blades lanceolate; 12–24 cm long; 16–22 mm wide. Leaf-blade surface glabrous … [flowers and seeds described]." — Kew GrassBase [#1335].

Images: Line drawing in Widjaja, 1997: 89, fig. 11 [#1352].

Uses: Culms as a building material and for basketry; plants suitable as garden ornamentals and for landscaping.

Comments: As this species grows in Malaysia in the borderland area with Thailand, its distribution might extend into Thailand.

Characteristics (of BS-0289 with a culm size of 4 m in length and 1.8 cm in diameter): Habit caespitose, tight clump. Rhizome pachymorph, short. Culms straight, bending outwards. Young shoots emerge from July. Culm-internodes terete, to 43 cm long, mid-green, with narrow stripes in light green, whitish-green, yellowish-green, and yellow, glabrous, but pruinose towards the upper part, easily splitting; walls thin. Culm-nodes glabrous, flat; nodal line horizontal; sheath scar marginally protruding; supranodal line obscure, without a ridge; with a narrow, obscurely farinose ring just below the nodal line when young; aerial roots none. Branch-buds solitary, subrotund, from the basal node up. Branches several, subequal, the central one slightly dominant; usually unbranched on the basal and lower culm; branching intravaginal; rebranching. Culm-leaves persistent on unbranched nodes of the basal and lower culm, late deciduous on branched nodes of the mid-culm and upper culm. Culm-leaf sheaths parabolic, 6–7 cm wide at the base, 12–14 cm long, shorter than the internode, about one-third as long as the internode, leathery to papery, light straw-colored when dry, darker when old, with scattered dark brown to blackish hairs; apex convex-rounded; margins dark ciliate when young, eciliate when dry. Culm-leaf auricles rim-like, very low, entire, adnate to the basal margins of the blade, ending in 1–2 mm high glabrous ovate lobes, without bristles. Culm-leaf ligule very low, 0.5–1 mm high, light brownish, entire. Culm-leaf blades leathery to papery, deflexed, persistent, long-rhomboid or kite-shaped, with a broad base. Foliage-leaves about 8–12 per branchlet. Foliage-leaf sheaths green to orange-green when young, dark hispid; apex extended, rounded; margins eciliate. Foliage-leaf auricles small rounded lobes, 1–1.5 m high and wide, glabrous, brownish-green, without bristles. Foliage-leaf ligule inconspicuous, low, subentire; outer ligule an inconspicuous glabrous callus. Foliage-leaf blades thick, rigid, lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, (17) 23–31 (42) × (1.5) 2.5–4 (5.5) cm, green, glabrous on both surfaces; base wedge-shaped, apex attenuate; margins antrorsely scabrous; midvein proximally distinct, light green beneath; pseudopetiole 3–8 mm long. Flowers and seeds are unknown.

Comments: Compared to Gigantochloa kuring, bristles could not be detected either in the auricles or in the ligules of BS-0289, the ligules are entire rather than denticulate, the culm-leaf blade is neither triangular nor ovate but rhomboid, foliage-leaf blades are somewhat larger, and after 11 years, the plant has not reached a larger height than 4 m and a bigger culm diameter than 1.8 cm. This raises the question of whether BS-0289 has been correctly identified as Gigantochloa kuring, but all other characteristics of BS-0289 match this species quite well.