29. Ochlandra setigera Gamble, Ann

General description

Ochlandra setigera Gamble is a reed bamboo endemic to Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. Culms erect or straggling, culms 6 m high, 1.2-1.8 cm thick, smooth, without branches below, much branched above; nodes hardly swollen; internodes 25-30 cm long, whitish below the nodes, walls 0.2- 0.5 mm thick. Culmsheaths persistent, 15-19 cm long, thin, papery. Leaves oblong lanceolate, acuminate 12-26 cm long and 1.8-3 cm broad, rounded at the base, smooth above minutely. Inflorescence a short terminal or axillary spike on leafy branchlets. Sterile spikelets in heads, smaller than the fertile, rachis smooth, spikelets cylindric, tip pointed, clothed with white hairs. Spikelets 1.8-2.2 cm long, empty glumes 3, hairy, 0.7-1.3 cm long, many-nerved, ovate, acute and mucronate. Flowering glume larger, glabrous, acute at the apex 2.4 cm. Stamens many, 26-32, exserted, filaments free, short; anthers 1.2-1.5 cm long. Ovary narrow, glabrous; style surmounted by perigynium, at the tip 5 plumose stigmas, 3 long and 2 short. Caryopsis oblong, fleshy pericarp, glumes persistent, beak 3 cm long.

Habit and Habitat

Reed form. Found at an elevation of 1000 m and above.

Distribution

Endemic to Western Ghats. Restricted in distribution, found in Tamil Nadu (Nilgiris) and Kerala (Nilambur)

Uses

The culm of this species is used for handicrafts and for tying bundles of firewood, basket and mat making. Leaves are used as fodder.

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