Dendrocalamus brandisii (Munro) Kurz

Arundarbor brandisii (Munro) Kuntze , Bambusa brandisii Munro , Sinocalamus brandisii (Munro) Keng f.
Common Name: Bulka (Bengal), Wanam (Manipuri), Bilathimula (Malayalam)

Habit
Culms : Tufted Height: 19-33m  Diameter:13-20cm  Culm Color: Ashy green - greenish gray
Internode Length: 30-38cm  Culm Sheath Colour: 60 cm long, 30-35 cm broad, thick, leatherywith white pubescence on the back, otherwise smooth, rounded and depressed at the top; ligule 1-2 cm high, deeply lacerate; auricles small, plaited; blade 15-46 cmlong, 8-13 cm broad, linear-lanceolate, recurved, appressed-hairy within, base rounded. Young shoots dark-gray, bladedark-brown.

Length of Leaf: 20-30 cm  Breadth of Leaf : 2.5-5 cm  Leaf Shape: oblong-lanceolate

Habitat: Wet evergreeen tropical forests  Altitude: 1300m  Soil: Loamy soils, sandy and clayey soil

Native to:
Introduced to: Manipur, Andaman islands, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala

Description of Inflorescence and Flower: huge much-branched panicle,with long spicate flagelliform branches, bearing bracteate heads of 1-1.3 cm diameter with many small spikelets; rachisdensely pubescent, flattened on one side, segments 2.5-4 cm long. Spikelets 5-7.5 mm long, nearly as broad, ovate,depressed, minutely pubescent; empty glumes 1-2, broadly ovate, mucronate, nearly glabrous; flowers 2-4; floweringglume similar, prominently few-nerved, ciliate on the edges, hairy near the tip; palea oblong, acute or bi-mucronate,3-nerved, ciliate on the keels, side wings narrow; lodicules 1-2, lanceolate or spathulate, 3-nerved, long-ciliate. Stamensexserted; anthers greenish-yellow, short, broad, apiculate or penicillate; filaments short, thick at first. Ovary ellipsoid,hairy; style short, stigmas purple ending in a thick club-shaped, or dividing into two plumose stigmas
Flowering Cycle: 45-50 years  Flowering Reported:Myanmar(1862,1870,1890,1894), Coorg(1961-62), Manipur(1987-88)

Propagation:Culm cutting

Uses: Construction, Pulp and paper, baskets, handicrafts, edible shoots, decoration, boat masts

References: References: Seethalakshmi K. K ,1998 ,Ohrnberger D,1999, Rao A.N,1999; Manual for establishment and management of bamboo plantations, march 2005