Bambusa bambos (L .) Voss

Arundo bambos L. , Bambusa arundinacea (Retz.) Willd.
Common Name: Thorny bamboo (English); Kotoba (Assam); Barrowa (Bengal), Mula (Malayalam), Mungil (Tamil Nadu), Nal bans (Panjab), Mulla Veduru (Andhra Pradesh), Behor bans (West Bengal)

Habit
Culms : Tufted Height: 30m  Diameter:15-18cm  Culm Color: Dark green
Internode Length: 15-30 cm  Culm Sheath Colour: Coriaceous, glabrous to pubescent with dark brown velvety hairs.

Length of Leaf: 15- 30cm  Breadth of Leaf : : 8-15mm  Leaf Shape: Lanceolate

Habitat: Moist deciduous forest  Altitude: 1000m - 1200m  Soil: Moistfertile and Alluvial soil, acidic soil , sandy loams, alluvial soil

Native to: East Asia, Meghalaya, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Goa, Gujarat, Rajasthan
Introduced to: Pakistan, Sri lanka, Bangladesh, Thailand, Vietnam, China, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland, Amani Arboretum

Description of Inflorescence and Flower: Enormous panicle, branchlets spicate with loose clusters of about 5 pale spikelets rachis variable, usually stiff, shinig,smooth, striate occasionally angular, spikelets lanceolate, acute,lemma broadlyobovate-triangular palea elliptic stamens filaments long filiform,anthers free basifixed
Flowering Cycle: 40-49 years  Flowering Reported:Kerala (1951)

Propagation:Seeds,Offset planting, branch cutting

Uses: Construction, edible shoots, medicine, fence, floor boards, fodder, pulp and paper, rafters, scaffoldings, sprints

References: Seethalakshmi K. K , 1998; Muktesh Kumar M.S, 2009; Rao A.N, 1999; Manual for establishment and management of bamboo plantations, march 2005