11. Dendrocalamus brandisii (Munro) Kurz

Local names

English - Velvet Leaf Bamboo,
Teddy Bear Bamboo,
Sweet Dragon Bamboo Bengal – Bulka;
Manipur – Wanan;
Kerala – Bilathimula.

General description

Dendrocalamus brandisii is a perennial, clump-forming, evergreen tufted bamboo Culms can be 19-33 m high and 13-20 cm diameter; nodes slightly swollen, lower ones with rootlets; internodes 30-38 cm long. The woody culms are 13 - 20cm in diameter with walls 25 - 50mm thick and internodes 30 - 38cm long, aerial roots are produced at the nodes. Culm-sheaths up to 60 cm long, Young shoots dark-gray, blade dark-brown. Leaves 20-30 cm long and 2.5-5 cm broad, oblong-lanceolate, glabrous petiole; leaf-sheath striate, pubescent when young. Inflorescence a huge much-branched panicle, bearing bracteate heads of 1-1.3 cm diameter with many small spikelets; rachis densely pubescent, flattened on one side, segments 2.5-4 cm long. Stamens exserted; 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. Caryopsis ovoid, 2.5-4 mm, hairy above, tipped with the persistent style, pericarp crustaceous.

Habit and Habitat

Tree form. The species is found growing in the tropical forests, chiefly on calcareous rocks up to an altitude of 1300 m.

Distribution

Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, China, India – Manipur and Andaman.

Uses

Used for house building, baskets and as decorative. Young shoots are edible. It is often used as a building material.

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