Indocalamus tessellatus

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].