Indocalamus tessellatus
Indocalamus tessellatus (Munro) Keng f. in Keng, Claves Gen. Spec. Gramin. Sinic., 1957: 152.
Synonyms: Bambusa tessellata Munro, Trans. Linn. Soc. London 26 (1), 1868: 110; Sasa tessellata (Munro) Makino & Shibata; Sasamorpha tessellata (Munro) Koidz.; Pseudosasa tessellata (Munro) Hatus.
Thai name: No known records.
Chinese name: 箬竹 (ruò zhú).
English name: Big Leaf Runner.
Distribution: THAILAND (North): introduced, in cultivation, rare. — CHINA (East, Central): Zhejiang, Anhui, Fujian, Hunan; in open forests on mountain slopes, 300–1,400 m altitude.
Culm size: Height 0.8–2 m, diameter 0.4–0.7 cm.
Descriptions:
(1) "Culms 0.75–2 m, 0.4–0.7 cm in diam.; internodes usually green, ca. 25(–32) cm, with a red-brown tomentose ring below each node; nodes weakly elevated, supra-nodal ridge slightly more prominent than sheath scar. Culm sheaths striate, usually longer than internodes, upper portion loosely encircling culm, lower portion closely encircling it, thinly leathery, white tomentose, purple-brown strigose; auricles and oral setae absent; ligule truncate, 1–2 mm, membranous, brown hirtellous; blade deciduous, narrowly lanceolate, variable in size. Leaf sheaths leathery, glabrous, margin basally ciliate, distally glabrous; auricles rare, to 1 mm; oral setae very scarce, erect, white, straight, to 2 mm; ligule truncate or eroded, 1–2 mm, puberulent; blade broadly lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, 20–46 × 4–10.8 cm, abaxially gray-green, glabrous or densely appressed-puberulent and tomentose along both or one side of midrib, secondary veins 8–16 pairs, tessellations square. … [flowers and seeds described]." — Flora of China, accessed 10 July 2020 [#1303].
(2) Kew GrassBase [#1335].
Images: Line drawing Flora of China 1, 2 [#1303]. Photos AsianFlora (habit, leaves) [#1332]; BambooWeb.info [#1340].
Indocalamus tessellatus (BS-0184): Foliage-leaves (left), a culm with nodes and culm-leaves, one node with a single branch (right)
Specimen: BS-0184 [-] (living plant), received from cultivated plants from Germany ca. 1999, initially planted in Chiang Mai, and transplanted to Baan Sammi in 2003.
Characteristics: Young shoots emerge from early March. Foliage-leaf blades to 50 cm long by 11 cm wide (under a temperate climate).
Uses: Ornamental groundcover plant for gardens.
Cultivation requirements: Grows in heavy, moisture-retentive soil with good drainage, in full but not dark shade, or even in the sun. Although this and other species of Indocalamus are known in temperate regions to be invasive, the plant when grown in the Chiang Mai area has turned out to stay healthy but without almost any growth of rhizomes, culms, and leaves since its introduction: The diameter of the clump is no more than 10 cm, culm height is 30 cm, and the maximum length of leaf blades has reached 16 cm, the majority of blades reached 10 cm only.
Comments: This species has the largest leaves within the genus Indocalamus.