Bambusa balcooa Roxb.

Dendrocalamus balcooa (Roxb.) Voigt, Arundarbor balcooa (Roxburgh) Kuntze, Bambusa capensis Ruprecht
Common Name: Female bamboo (English); Baluka (Assam, Arunachal pradesh ), Balku bans (Bengal), Barak (Tripura), Bhalu bans (Nagaland)

Habit
Culms : Tufted Height: 12-20m  Diameter:8-15cm  Culm Color: Grayish green
Internode Length: 20 - 40cm  Culm Sheath Colour: Green when young, deciduous, tapering above and rounded at tip,adaxial surface glabrous, abaxial surface with densely appressed dark brown hairs, margin ciliate.

Length of Leaf: 15- 30cm  Breadth of Leaf : 2.5- 5 cm  Leaf Shape: Oblong lanceolate

Habitat: Moist deciduous forest  Altitude: 600m  Soil: Heavy textured soils

Native to: North Eastern India
Introduced to: Nepal, Bangladesh , Nagaland, Meghalaya, Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, Eastern Uttar Pradesh, Orissa

Description of Inflorescence and Flower: Large panicle, bearing spikate branching with bracteate heads,0.6- 1.2 cm long, 4-6mm broad with0-2 empty glumes,empty glumes ovate acute, many nerved, flowering glumes similar but larger ciliate on the edges. Stamens hardly exserted anthers glabrous style hairy
Flowering Cycle: 35-45 years  Flowering Reported:Uttar pradesh, Manipur, Bangladesh (1983 – 88)

Propagation:Culm cuttings,Tissue culture

Uses: Agarbathi sticks, boats, construction, electric poles, edible shoots, frames, ladder, pulp and paper, scaffoldings

References: Seethalakshmi K. K ,1998, Naithani H.B, 2011