Otatea acuminata
Otatea acuminata (Munro) C. E. Calderón & Soderstr., Smithsonian Contr. Bot. 44, 1980: 21.
Synonyms: Arundinaria acuminata Munro; Yushania acuminata (Munro) McClure; Yushania aztecorum McClure & E. W. Sm.; Otatea acuminata subsp. aztecorum (McClure & E. W. Sm.) R. Guzmán, M. C. Anaya C. & Santana Mich.; Otatea aztecorum (McClure & E. W. Sm.) C. E. Calderón & Soderstr.
Thai name: No known records.
English name: Mexican Wheeping Bamboo.
Distribution: THAILAND: introduced, in cultivation, rare. — MEXICO: endemic, widely distributed; on slopes with tropical dry forest, and in drier habitats like xerophytic scrubs, at 400–2,000 m altitude (E. Ruiz Sánchez, 2009: 85).
Culm size: Height 2–10 m, diameter 1–5 cm.
Description: E. Ruiz Sánchez & al., 2009: 130 [#1163a].
Images: Photos in BambooWeb.info under subsp. acuminata and subsp. aztecorum [#1340]; photos (habitat) by E. Ruiz Sánchez on Facebook, 12 May 2015; photos (culm cross-section) by E. Ruiz Sánchez on Facebook, 31 Jan 2015.
Uses: Culms for light construction (e.g., greenhouses) and basketry; plants for erosion control (preventing landslides), and garden ornamentals.
Cultivation requirements: In part shade to full sun, soil 6.5–8 pH, sandy loam to clay loam, normal moisture-retentive to moist with good drainage. Tolerates heat and humidity, and some drought. Cannot tolerate floods; a 5-day flood in August 2020 caused significant damage to the plant and possible death.
Comments:
(1) Flowers and seeds are known.
(2) "Otatea acuminata is the most morphologically variable species [within the genus Otatea] with a widespread distribution … and is recognized by a single diagnostic character: the lack of oral setae in foliar leaves … and the two subspecies can not be recognized based on morphological characters" (E. Ruiz Sánchez, 2009: 79).
(3) Plants from Michoacán cultivated in the U.S.A. have been published at the cultivar level as Otatea acuminata 'Michoacán' and described as having darker culms, long-persistent culm sheaths, and a stiffer look to the leaves.
Specimen: BS-0463 [†] (living plant, died), received from cultivated stock from the USA in 2010; the plant was introduced from Michoacán, Mexico.
Characteristics: Rhizome pachymorph, short or long-necked (up to 90 cm long). Culm-internodes solid or hollow with thick walls. Culm-leaves with or without oral hairs. Foliage-leaves always without oral hairs.
Otatea acuminata (BS-0463): Young culm with culm-leaf (left), young culm with developing branches (right)
Specimens: BS-0804 [-], BS-0835 [SSG] (living plants), raised from seeds. The seeds from Veracruz, Mexico; collected as "Otatea acuminata" by R. M. O., June 2014, and received on 24 July 2014 (BS-0804); collected in June 2015, and received on 11 and 13 July 2015 (BS-0835).
Seed viability: Unknown, viability assumed to last at least several months.
Seed weight: Unrecorded.
Seed germination: About 18 seedlings can be expected from 1.0 g of seeds (test 140724 and test 150724).
Comments: The plant BS-0804 grown at Bambusetum Baan Sammi died due to flooding in 2020.
Otatea acuminata (BS-0804): Seeds (left), germinating seeds, 18th day (right)
Otatea acuminata (BS-0804): Seedling, 45th day