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— BAMBOOS OF THAILAND — ONLINE VERSION OF 1 JANUARY 2021 — LATEST UPDATE OF 21 SEPTEMBER 2025 —
Lingnania chungii (McClure) McClure, Lingnan Univ. Sci. Bull. No. 9, 1940: 35.
Synonym: Bambusa chungii McClure, Lingnan Sci. J. 15, 1936: 639.
Thai names: ไผ่ชุง (phai chung); ไผ่จุงยี (phai chungyi).
Chinese name: 粉箪竹 (fěn dān zhú).
English names: White-Powder Bamboo; White Bamboo; Tropical Blue Bamboo; Emperor's Blue Bamboo.
Distribution: THAILAND: introduced, in cultivation. — CHINA (South, East, Central): Guangdong, Hong Kong, Guangxi, southeastern Yunnan, Hainan, Fujian, southern Hunan; in lowland hilly areas at 100–500 m altitude.
Culm size: Height 8–10 (18) m, diameter 4.5–6 (7) cm.
Descriptions:
(1) "Culms 5–10(–18) m, 3–5(–7) cm in diam.; internodes 30–45(–100) cm, initially white powdery, glabrous; wall 3–5 mm thick; nodes flat; sheath scars corky, initially with a ring of dense, brown hairs; branching from distal nodes only. Branches many, subequal. Culm sheaths deciduous, thinly leathery, initially white powdery, silky hairy, apex later glabrous, concave; auricles narrowly oblong, glossy; ligule ca. 1.5 mm, serrulate or long fimbriate; blade deciduous, strongly reflexed, base 1/5–1/3 as wide as sheath apex, adaxially hispidulous. Leaf sheaths glabrous; auricles usually developed; oral setae straight; blade lanceolate, 10–16(–20) × 1–2(–3.5) cm. … [flowers and seeds described]." — Flora of China, as "Bambusa chungii" [#1303].
(2) "… caespitose. Rhizomes short; pachymorph. Culms erect; 1200–1800 cm long; 30–50 mm diam.; woody; without nodal roots. Culm-internodes terete; hollow; 40–100 cm long; glaucous. Culm-nodes pubescent. Lateral branches dendroid. Branch complement many; with subequal branches. Culm-sheaths yellow; pubescent; with appressed hairs; auriculate; setose on shoulders. Culm-sheath ligule fimbriate, or ciliolate, or ciliate. Culm-sheath blade narrowly ovate; reflexed; pubescent. Leaves cauline. Leaf-sheaths glabrous on surface. Leaf-sheath oral hairs setose. Leaf-sheath auricles falcate. Ligule an eciliate membrane. Collar with external ligule. Leaf-blade base asymmetrical; with a brief petiole-like connection to sheath. Leaf-blades linear, or lanceolate; 10–20 cm long; 20–35 mm wide. Leaf-blade venation with 10–12 secondary veins. Leaf-blade surface pubescent; hairy abaxially. Leaf-blade apex acuminate. … [flowers described]." — Kew GrassBase, as "Bambusa chungii" [#1335].
Characteristics: Young shoots emerge from March to September.
Images: Line drawing in Flora of China [#1303]. Photos in BambooWeb.info [#1340]; BambooCraft.net [#1341]; plantjdx.com (culms, shoot, foliage) [#1345]; cfh.ac.cn; RichardLyons (culms). Videos on YouTube.
Uses: Culms for paper making, basketry, and other weaving wares; plants as garden ornamentals.
Cultivation requirements: Vigorously growing, in part shade to full sun, in 5.5–6.5 pH soils, sandy loam to clay loam, normal moisture-retentive to moist with good drainage.
Specimen: BS-0306 [S4] [W2] (living plant), received from cultivated stock from the USA in 2010.
Characteristics: Culm-internodes initially covered evenly with white powder, which remains for about one year (even under long-lasting heavy rain), thus looking blue, then changing to green.
Lingnania chungii (BS-0306): Culms (left), culm-leaf (right)
Specimen: BS-0433 [E5] (living plants), received as "Bambusa chungii var. barbellata" from cultivated stock from the USA in 2010.
Characteristics (culm size dimensions): Basal culm 0.1 m above the ground, 1st internode, culm diameter 4.0 cm; lower culm 2.08 m above the ground, 4th internode, culm diameter 4.7 cm, wall 0.4–0.5 cm thick, lacuna 3.7–3.9 cm (photo BS-0433_027); length of internodes: 1st internode above the ground 35 cm long, 2nd internode 51 cm, 3rd 65 cm, 4th 75 cm, 5th 83 cm (photo BS-0433_017), 6th 85 cm (photo BS-0433_018), 7th 86 cm (photo BS-0433_019), 8th internode 86.5 cm long, with branches on the 9th node (photo BS-0433_020), further internodes gradually decreasing in length; total culm length little over 15 m (photo BS-0433_016), maximum internode length (in another culm) 105 cm.
Comments: Culms of true Lingnania chungii var. barbellata Q. H. Dai (synonym Bambusa chungii var. barbellata (Q. H. Dai) Y. M. Lin & Q. F. Zheng), Chinese name 水粉单竹 (shuǐ fěn dān zhú), from Guangxi, southern China, are somewhat smaller in ultimate height (6 m) than var. chungii. What was received as "var. barbellata" is certainly var. chungii. Culms had attained a height of 15 m by 4.7 cm in diameter, and the internodes were up to 90 cm long and without rigid hairs but rough when young just below the nodes.
Lingnania chungii var. petilla T. H. Wen
Synonym: Bambusa chungii var. petilla (T. H. Wen) Ohrnb.
Distribution: CHINA (South): Fujian.
Culm size: Height 3–4 m, diameter 1 cm.
Characteristics: Culms smaller in ultimate size; culm-internodes not farinose; foliage-leaf blades velvety pubescent on both surfaces.
Uses: Plants as garden ornamentals.
Comments: There are no known records of introductions in Thailand.
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