Schizostachyum iraten

Synonym: Schizostachyum biflorum McClure, Blumea 2 (2), 1936: 89.

Thai name: No known records.

Indonesian name: bambu tamiang; Sundanese names: awi tamiyang, awi bunar; Javanese name: pring wuluh.

Distribution: THAILAND: introduced, in cultivation, rare. — INDONESIA: native, Java, Sumatra, Bali, Kalimantan; up to an altitude of 600 m, in scrub vegetation, thin forest, and village groves, often cultivated. — MALAYSIA: in cultivation.

Descriptions:

(1) "Culm sheaths glaucous pale green, covered with short pale brown to silvery appressed hairs; blade narrowly triangular, erect, not inflated, pale green and basally slightly purplish; auricles low rims 1–2 mm high with bristles 3–4 mm long; ligule a subentire rim 1–2 mm high. Culms to 8–10 m long, to 6–8 m high, commonly 3.5–5.5 cm diameter, slightly arched outwards; internodes 40–60 cm long, dark green; nodes often with a conspicuous thick leathery purplish black "girdle" left from the sheath after it falls away. Branch complement typically a cluster of slender subequal branches, none dominant, these rebranching further. Leaf: blades 20–35 cm long, 3–4.5 cm wide, typically pale soft-hairy on lower side; stalk 5–8 mm long; auricles low rims 0.2–0.5 mm high, bearing scattered bristles 5–9 mm long; ligule a subentire rim 1–1.5 mm high. Inflorescences and flowers unknown in Peninsular Malaysia." — K. M. Wong, Bamboos of Peninsular Malaysia, 1995: p. 172-173 [#1210].

(2) "Densely tufted, sympodial bamboo. Culm erect with drooping tip, 6–10 m long, 2–5 cm in diameter, wall 3–7 mm thick; internodes of the midculm 70–120 cm long, whitish green and covered with short appressed pale hairs when young, becoming pale to light green with a conspicuous whitish ring below the nodes; nodes prominently swollen. Branches arising from midculm nodes upward, slender, usually subequal. Culm sheath 20–28 cm × 9–17 cm, truncate, persistent, subrigid, lemon-green often tinged with light pink, becoming stramineous, bearing pale brown hairs and with many prominent veins; blade narrowly lanceolate, tapering to a long tip, 11–30 cm × 10–15 mm, erect first, later reflexed or spreading, light green, deciduous, glabrous but hairy adaxially especially near the base; ligule 3 mm long, serrate; auricles short, about 7 mm long, with bristles. Young shoots pale green. Leaf blade lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, 15–45 cm × 1.5–9 cm, usually glabrous; sheath glabrous; ligule very short; auricles short with long bristles … [flowers described, seeds unknown]." — S. Dransfield in S. Dransfield & E. A. Widjaja (eds.), Plant Resources of South-East Asia No. 7, Bamboos, 1995: p. 135-136, fig. [#1226].

(3) "Habit: Perennial; caespitose; clumped densely. Rhizomes short; pachymorph. Culms erect; drooping at the tip; 600–1000 cm long; 20–50 mm diam.; woody. Culm-internodes terete; hollow; 70–120 cm long; light green; distally pubescent. Culm-nodes swollen. Lateral branches dendroid. Buds or branches absent from lower quarter of culm. Culm-sheaths persistent; 20–28 cm long; 1.6–2 times as long as wide; yellow, or green; pubescent; with tawny hairs; truncate at apex; auriculate; with 7 mm high auricles; ciliate on shoulders. Culm-sheath ligule 3 mm high; dentate. Culm-sheath blade linear; deciduous; spreading, or reflexed; 11–30 cm long; 10–15 mm wide; pubescent (near base); attenuate. Leaf-sheaths glabrous on surface. Leaf-sheath oral hairs ciliate. Leaf-sheath auricles falcate. Ligule an eciliate membrane. Leaf-blade base with a brief petiole-like connection to sheath. Leaf-blades lanceolate; 15–45 cm long; 15–90 mm wide. Leaf-blade surface glabrous. … [flowers and seeds described]." — Kew GrassBase, accessed 13 Aug. 2020 [#1335].

Images: Photo of the holotype in Herb. Mus. Paris (leaves, flowers) [#1334].

Uses: Culms for blowpipes, flutes, and fishing rods. Internodes for cooking vessels (in Malaysia).