Dendrocalamus asper (Schult.) Backer

Arundarbor aspera Rumph. , Arundarbor bifung (Schult.) Kuntze , Arundo aspera (Schult.f.) Oken
Common Name: Sweet bamboo (English), Rough bamboo, Thaitama Bans (Sikkim)

Habit
Culms : Tufted Height: 20-30m  Diameter:8-20cm  Culm Color: Green
Internode Length: 40-50cm  Culm Sheath Colour: Deciduous, 40-50cm long , pale-green, pubescent, with dark brown hairs, with 7 mm high auricles, ciliate on shoulders with 5 mm long hairs imperfect blade linear, narrower than sheath, reflexed,25cm long, 35mm wide , acuminate ligule 7-10mm high, fimbriate.

Length of Leaf: 15-30cm  Breadth of Leaf : 10-25mm  Leaf Shape: lanceolate

Habitat:   Altitude: 1000m  Soil: Heavy textured soils

Native to: South-east Asia
Introduced to: Tropical Asia, Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Malesia, Indonesia, Madagascar, Srilanka, Australia

Description of Inflorescence and Flower: Bractiferous, clustered at the nodes, in globose clusters,dense,with glumaceous subtending bracts,with axillary buds at base of spikelets, prophyllate below lateral spikelets, leafless between clusters. Spikelets elliptic, laterally compressed, 6-9 mm long, 4 mm wide, breaking up at maturity, disarticulating below each fertile floret rhachilla internodes suppressed between florests glumes persistent, shorter than spikelet lemmas ovate, 8 mm long, charactaceous, without keel pubescent, margins ciliate, hairy above, apex acuminate, palea charataceous, 4-7 veined, 2- keeled but the uppermost without keels, keels ciliate, pubescent, hairy on back and on margins. Lodicules absent, anthers 6, 3.5 mm long , tip smooth.
Flowering Cycle: 100 years  Flowering Reported:Uttar pradesh(1950-56), Orissa (1967), Madhya pradesh(1961-63), Dehra Dun, Goa (2010)

Propagation:Seeds, rhizome planting, culm cutting

Uses: Construction, pots, baskets, edible shoots, furniture, tooth picks

References: Ohrnberger D,1999; Rao A.N,1999; Manual for establishment and management of bamboo plantations, march 2005; Naithani H.B, 2011