01. Dendrocalamus asper (Schult.) Backer
Local names
English: Giant Bamboo,
Dragon bamboo,
Sweet bamboo;
Sikkim: Thaitama Bans
General description
Dendrocalamus asper or commonly known as Giant Bamboo or Rough Bamboo is a very large, dense-clumping, evergreen species native to Southeast Asia. Rhizome is sympodial. It grows up to 20 m tall and 12 cm in diameter. Younger plants are covered with fine velvety brown hairs. The nodes are swollen; younger nodes have many aerial roots while middle and upper nodes have branches. It is widely cultivated for its highly valued culms that are used as building material and its shoots that are used as vegetable. Upper internodes of the culm are used as containers for water or to collect juice being tapped from palm inflorescence. It can be grown from rhizomes, culm or branch cuttings. It cannot grow in the shade. It prefers well drained black soils, Sandy clay loam or shallow lateritic soil mixed with fine sandy clay. Good drainage is essential.
Habit and Habitat
Tree form. Grows well in plains and in hilly tracts up to 1000m altitude.
Distribution
Africa - Madagascar; Southeast Asia - China, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Australia, India- North eastern states, Tamilnadu, kerala and Karnataka.
Uses
oung shoots are edible. They are used as a vegetable, pickled or preserved. They can be cut into strips and used as a substitute for macaroni in soups. The upper internodes of the culm are used as containers for water or to collect juice being tapped from palm inflorescences. The internodes of this and other bamboo species are also used as ready-made cooking pots in the field. The culms are used as building material for houses and bridges, for making furniture, boards, musical instruments, household utensils, crafts, outriggers of fishing boats and for paper making.
Local names
Arunachal Pradesh- Kako/Hate,
Assam- Kako banh,
Manipur- Unap,
Aotsü Nagaland- Aotsu; Sikkim- Choya Bans/Ban Bans/Dhungray bans,
Mizoram- Phulrua,
Tripura - Pecha,
Maharashtra- Chivari,
Mes; Karnataka- Konda,
Kerala- Oyi
General description
This is an extremely manageable thorn less, mid-sized bamboo species with great economic and socio-cultural importance found naturally distributed in Central Western Ghats from Kasargod (Kerala) to Ratnagiri (Maharashtra). Shrubs; stems glabrous or softly pubescent, slender, grey-green, solid; nodes with a softly pubescent ring. Leaves 10-20 x 1.2-2 cm, shortly petioled, tip setaceous, base rounded or cuneate, beneath glabrous or hairy, midrib narrow; nerves 5-6; sheath striate; ligule rather long, toothed. Spikelets 1 cm long, in globose heads spinescent, glabrous, fertile and sterile; empty glumes 2, ovate, mucronate, 5-7 nerved; flower glumes 2 ovate, subacute, dorsally mucronate. Anthers short, acute. Ovary ovoid, hairy; style long, slender; stigma 1, simple, plumose. Grain elongate, beaked. In recent times due to the scarcity of cane/rattan this species is increasingly been seen as a substitute in furniture industry due to its typical anatomical characteristics like the presence of non- predominant nodes, solid nature of culms and good culm wall thickness.
Habit and Habitat
Shrubby bamboo. Can be seen along the banks of rivers
Distribution
Coastal areas of Maharastra, Goa, Karnataka and Northern Kerala (Kasargode). Endemic to Central Western Ghats.
Uses
Construction material, Furniture industry, scaffolding, crafts, basket making, poles, stakes (tomato and fruit orchards) agricultural tools and structures.