journal of renewable natural resources bhutan - Ministry of Agriculture

M. R. Moktan et alesculanta, Castanposis indica, Merisenia semiserata, Maesia chisa,Macaranga postulata, Pentapanax fragrans, Quercus glauca,Engelhardtia spicata, Eurya acuminata, Nyssa javanica, Evodia,Ficus hispida, Altinga excelsa, Exbucklandia populanea, Betulaalnoides and Ardenia marcophylla.The morphological features of the above bamboo is described byStapleton (1994) and Noltie (2000). The rhizome grows to about 1mlong and one to several culms arises from single clump and reachesabout 12m in height. The culms are smooth, shiny and narrow with50cm long internodes that look glossy and green with typicalbranching from the nodes. Culms sheath are tough and smooth with itsapex very narrow and needle-shaped. Leaf sheaths are thin, broad andacuminate and triangular. The inflorescence appear similar to those ofsmall bamboo such as Arundinaria but they have six stamens instead ofthree indicating that they are related to genera Bambusa and mayrepresents an intermediate stage in bamboo evolution. The mid-culmbuds are tall and narrow. There may be up to eighteen similar branches,or the central branch may be strongly dominant and similar in size tothe culm(b) Cane ( Calamus acanthospathus )Canes (rattan) are found throughoutZhemgang with Lower Kheng as the richestrepository of canes in the district. Sixspecies of canes belonging to two generawere recorded from lower, middle and upperKheng of about ten species thought to occurin Bhutan (Noltie, 2000).Out of the six species, Calamusacanthospathus locally named Krath, Grenin Khengkha, Gauribet in Lhotsamgkha and Figure 1. C. acanthospathusMunzi in Sharchopkha is the commerciallyimportant used in conjunction with basket making from the bamboo. Itis a solitary stemmed cane with leaf sheaths armed and denselyarranged spines and a long spiny flagellum as specialised climbing43