Oxytenanthera abyssinica

Synonyms: Bambusa abyssinica A. Rich.; Oxytenanthera macro­thyrsus K. Schum.; Oxytenanthera braunii Pilg.; Oxytenanthera borzii Mattei; Houzeau­bambus borzii (Mattei) Mattei.

Thai name: No known records.

Chinese name: 酒竹 (jiǔ zhú), translated as "wine bamboo".

English names: Abyssinian Bamboo, African Savanna Bamboo, Ethiopian Lowland Bamboo, African Wine Bamboo, Bindura Bamboo (in Zimbabwe).

Distribution: THAILAND: introduced from China, in cultivation, rare. — TROPICAL AFRICA: from ERITREA and GAMBIA to MOZAMBIQUE and northern SOUTH AFRICA; outside the humid forest zone, in open and wooden savannas (with an average annual rainfall of over 800 mm), often along water courses, valleys, ravines, and rocky slopes, in belts of fire-swept savannas; prefers warm and moist areas but is adapted to seasonally dry sites (with 3–7 dry months, may become semi-deciduous) and bush fires; prevailing average annual temperatures 20–27 °C, with monthly average daily maxima 30–36 °C and daily minima 7–17 °C; occurs usually at low and medium elevations from 300 to 1,500 m altitude (altitude range 15–2,000 m); often planted.

Culm size: Height 5–10 (15) m, diameter 3–8 (10) cm.

Descriptions:

(1) "Habit: Perennial; caespitose. Rhizomes short; pachymorph. Culms erect; 300–1000 cm long; 50–100 mm diam.; woody. Culm-internodes terete; with small lumen, or solid; distally pubescent (at first). Lateral branches dendroid. Branch complement many; in an irregular line; with 1 branch dominant. Culm-sheaths hispid; with dark brown hairs; without auricles. Culm-sheath blade linear; 1–2 cm long; acuminate. Leaves cauline. Leaf-sheath oral hairs setose. Ligule an eciliate membrane. Leaf-blade base broadly rounded; with a brief petiole-like connection to sheath. Leaf-blades deciduous at the ligule; lanceolate; 5–25 cm long; 10–30 mm wide; glaucous. Leaf-blade venation with obscure cross veins. Leaf-blade surface glabrous. Leaf-blade apex attenuate; hardened. … [flowers and seeds described]." — Kew GrassBase, accessed 10 July 2020 [#1335].

(2) PROTA, Wageningen Univ., accessed 27 Oct. 2017 [#1242].

Images: Line drawing in PROTA. Photos in BambooWeb.info [#1340]; PROTA; Desertification (habit, culms, shoots); Kew (flowers); FloraZimbabwe (flowers).

Uses: Shoots and seeds for famine food; culms for house and roof construction, scaffolding, farm props, binder and pulp, fences, basketry, household implements, cups, furniture, tool handles, tobacco crates, pipes, fish traps, stakes, canoe poles, arrow and spear shafts, charcoal; leaves as fodder; plants for hedges, screening, windbreaks, soil erosion control and rehabilitation of degraded sites, biomass production; sap from shoot tips used for brewing alcoholic drinks ("ulanzi", 5–5.5 % alcohol) similar in taste to beer. Also recorded to be used for medicine (rhizomes used in treating dysentery; leaves in treating diabetes, colic, and rheumatism; roots in treating skin diseases; leaf decoction in treating polyuria, edema, and albuminuria).

Cultivation requirements: Grows in part shade to full sun (prefer­ably full sun), soil 6.5–8 pH, sandy loam to clay loam (preferably sandy soils, tolerates very poor soils), normal moisture-retentive to moist with good drainage. Well adapted to long dry seasons and uncertain rainfall patterns. Does not tolerate permanently very dry and non-moisture-retentive soils, heavy clay soils, and waterlogged sites. Saline conditions are unfavorable. Suffers from temperatures below +3 °C. Cultivation manual by UNIDO.

Flowering cycle: 7–21 years [#1320].

Seed viability: More than 1 year.

Comments:

(1) Sporadic flowering occurs widely and frequently. Mass flowering occurs every 7 years, 14 years, 20–21, or 28 years, depending on the geographic population. Both, the subsequent death of entire clumps and the regeneration of shoots from surviving rhizomes have been recorded.

(2) Because of its huge geographical distribution range with often disconnected populations, different flowering cycles, and slightly different morphological characteristics, the species might comprise several subspecies.

Specimen: BS-0521 [†] (living plant, died 2014), received from cultivated stock from the USA in 2010.