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Lingnania distegia (Keng & Keng f.) Keng f., Acta Phytotax. Sin. 19 (1), 1981: 142, "déstegia".
Synonyms: Sinocalamus distegius Keng & Keng f.; Bambusa distegia (Keng & Keng f.) L. C. Chia & H. L. Fung; Bambusa yunnanensis N. H. Xia; Schizostachyum annulatum Hsueh & W. P. Zhang.
Thai name: No known records.
Chinese name: 料慈竹 (liào cí zhú).
Distribution: THAILAND: introduced, in cultivation, rare. — CHINA (South): Sichuan; in hilly areas, near streams; at 300–500 m altitude.
Descriptions:
(1) "Culms 5–10 m, 3–5 cm in diam.; internodes 20–50 cm, initially white powdery, hairy, later concavely tuberculate; wall 5–8 mm thick; nodes flat; sheath scars corky, initially with a ring of dense, brown hairs. Branches many from distal nodes, subequal. Culm sheaths deciduous, ca. 1/2 as long as internodes or less, leathery, finely white powdery, initially minutely golden or brown hispid, apex truncate; auricles minute; oral setae 3–5 mm; ligule 1–2 mm, serrulate; blade reflexed or horizontal, base ca. 1/3 as wide as sheath apex, adaxially hispidulous. Leaf sheaths glabrous; auricles usually minute; oral setae minute; blade lanceolate, 5–16 × 0.8–1.6 cm. … [flowers and seeds described]." — Flora of China, as "Bambusa distegia" [#1303].
(2) "… caespitose. Rhizomes short; pachymorph. Culms erect; erect at the tip, or inclined at the tip; 1000 cm long; 45 mm diam.; woody. Culm-internodes terete; with small lumen; 20–50 cm long; distally pruinose and pubescent. Culm-nodes pubescent. Lateral branches dendroid; ascending, or spreading. Branch complement many; in a clump. Culm-sheaths deciduous; 20–26 cm long; 0.5 length of internode; coriaceous; hispid; with tawny hairs; truncate at apex; without auricles; glabrous on shoulders, or ciliate on shoulders; shoulders with 3–5 mm long hairs. Culm-sheath ligule 1–2 mm high; dentate, or dentate and ciliate. Culm-sheath blade lanceolate, or triangular; spreading; 1.3–13.5 cm long; 5–32 mm wide; glabrous on surface; acuminate. Leaf-sheaths 3.5–4.8 cm long; hispid; with reflexed hairs. Ligule an eciliate membrane; 0.5–1 mm long; truncate. Leaf-blade base with a brief petiole-like connection to sheath; petiole 0.1–0.2 cm long. Leaf-blades lanceolate; 5–16 cm long; 8–14 mm wide. Leaf-blade venation with 10–12 secondary veins. Leaf-blade surface pubescent; hairy abaxially. Leaf-blade margins scabrous. Leaf-blade apex acuminate. … [flowers and seeds described]." — Kew GrassBase, as "Bambusa distegia" [#1335].
Images: Line drawing in Flora of China 1, 2 [#1303]. Photos in AsianFlora (habit) [#1332]; in BambooWeb.info [#1340]; in Y. M. Yang & al., 1998: fig. 2 (shoot), as "Bambusa distegia" [#1213].
Uses: Culms for weaving and crafts; plants for hedges and screening.
Cultivation requirements: Grows in part shade to full sun, sandy loam to clay loam, normal moisture-retentive to moist with good drainage. May tolerate some drought and wind.
Lingnania distegia (BS-0750-2): Two culm-leaves from the same plant, in young fresh state (left), in young dried state (right)
Specimen: BS-0750-2 [-] (living plant), received from China as "箪竹 (dān zhú), Lingnania cerosissima, Bambusa cerosissima", 24 June 2012.
Characteristics: Not yet observed in detail, but no essential differences in characteristics from BS-0750-1 could be detected. Culm-internodes are initially thinly (not densely) farinose, and glabrous and smooth throughout. Culm-leaf sheaths when fresh are covered with white rigid hairs, soon changing to black when dry.
Comments: With maturity, it turned out to be Lingnania distegia.
Specimen: BS-0435 [C7] (living plant), received from cultivated stock in the USA in 2010.
Specimen: BS-0656 [-] (seeds), from FMXG, Yunnan, China, as "料慈竹 (liào cí zhú), Bambusa distegia, Lingnania distegia"; collected 2010, May 2011, and late Apr. 2012, were not received; collected Apr. 2013, were received (BS-0656); collected late Apr. 2014, were not received.
Seed weight: 10 g ≈ 190–250 humid spikelets (husk-wrapped seeds).
Seed viability: Seeds are viable for only a short period, one month under normal atmospheric conditions; three months in storage at 1–6 °C; the seeds must be kept humid (according to FMXG).
Seed germination: Seeds did not germinate. Special treatment of seeds is required (→ Growing Seeds).
Lingnania distegia (BS-0656): Seeds
Specimen: BS-0750-1 [-] (living plant), received from China as "箪竹 (dān zhú), Lingnania cerosissima, Bambusa cerosissima", 24 June 2012.
Characteristics: Habit tight caespitose. Rhizome pachymorph, short. Culms straight, erect, to 10 m long. Culm-internodes 50–85 cm long, to 4.6 (5?) cm in diameter, not densely white powdery, proximally glabrous and smooth, distally covered with short stiff white hairs when young, deciduous with maturity and becoming rough; moderately thick-walled to thin-walled from the basal culm to near the top (→ table with culm size dimensions). Culm-nodes with a brown ring of hairs. Branch-buds solitary, rotund to broad-ovate, very variable in size and shape, present from the basal node up. Branches short, 0.5–1.5 (2.0) m long, erect, forming an acute angle, usually 45° or less, unbranched on the basal and lower culm. Culm-leaves deciduous. Culm-leaf sheaths slightly farinose when young, covered with short rigid hairs, the hairs initially white (or lower sheaths initially dark-colored) and gradually changing to black with age. Foliage-leaves 8–12 per branchlet.
Comments: BS-0750-1 is a species of Lingnania, but not Lingnania cerosissima. With maturity, it turned out to be Lingnania distegia.
Lingnania distegia cl. striped leaves
Specimen: BS-0745 [SSG] (living plant), received from China as "花叶料慈竹 (huā yè liào cí zhú)" in 2011, said to have been raised in China from seeds.
Comments: There is no proof of the correct identification of the plant. The specimen was moved to a nursery [ศ. ส.] in Doi Saket, Chiang Mai Province, located at a high altitude, and the current whereabouts of the plant are unknown.
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