Melocanna baccifera (Roxb.) Kurz

Bambusa baccifera Roxb., Beesha baccifera (Roxburgh) Kunth , Beesha rheedii Kunth
Common Name: Tarai (Assam); Muli (Bengal); Moubi (Manipuri); Turiah (Nagaland), Muli bans, (Bengal, Tripura, Arunachal pradesh), Moubiwa (Manipuri), Watrai (Meghalaya), Mautak (Mizoram)

Habit
Culms : Tufted Height: 10-20m  Diameter:3-7 cm  Culm Color: green or straw
Internode Length: 20-25cm  Culm Sheath Colour: 10-15 cm long, yellowish greenwhen young and yellowish brown on maturity,brittle, striate, truncate or concave at the tip,glabrous or sparsely with whitish appressed hairson the back. Ligule very short with undulated ortoothed margin, auricles small, sub-equal,membranous, fringed with silvery bristles; bladedeciduous, usually 15-30 cm long, 2-3 cm broad,subulate. Young shoots smooth, light purple orpurplish green; ligule with long hairs, soonM. baccifera - Natural growthM. baccifera - A clumpM. baccifera - Internode with culm sheathcaducous, blades linear, green.

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

Habitat:   Altitude: 1000m  Soil: Sandy loam ,alluvial soils

Native to:
Introduced to: Assam, Manipur, Orissa, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura, Asia tropical India

Description of Inflorescence and Flower: largecompound panicle of one-sideddrooping, spicate branches, bearingclusters of 3 to 4 spikelets in the axils ofshort, blunt, glabrous bracts, emptyglumes 2-4. Palea glabrous, convolute,mucronate, acuminate not keeled.Lodicules 2, narrow, linear-oblong,obtuse and erose-fimbriate at the tip.Stamens free at base or irregularlyjoined, filaments flat; anthers yellow, notched at the apex; ovary ovoid; style elongate, divided in to 2-4 hairy recurved stigmas.
Flowering Cycle: 48 years  Flowering Reported:Manipur(1967), Pune(1993)

Propagation:Seeds, rhizome , culm cuttings

Uses: Construction, pulp and paper, edible fruit, woven

References: Seethalakshmi K. K ,1998; Manual for establishment and management of bamboo plantations, march 2005