BAMBOOS OF INDI A

Bamboos of India
The leaf lamina has an upper epidermis, two or three layers of mesophyll with or without a distinct palisade layer, fairly
large air spaces, lower mesophyll and lower epidermis. Groups of bulliform cells alternate with the air spaces. The
plicate or lobed condition is common in many of the outer mesophyll layers. The vascular bundles in the leaves show
the regular monocotyledonous structure and a group of sclerenchymatous cells interconnect the vascular bundles with
upper and lower epidermis. Stomata are commonly present on the lower epidermis and the guard cells appear smaller
than the epidermal cells (Rao, 1987).
Anatomical studies on Indian bamboos are limited mainly to culms and leaves. Ghosh and Negi (1960) studied the stem
epidermis of six bamboo species. Pattanath and Rao (1968) worked on twelve species and they found that epidermal
features and internodal structures can be used for distinguishing species. A study conducted by Appasamy (1989) on
five species revealed that bundle morphology can be used as a diagnostic character. Observations on epidermal features
of eight species of Dendrocalamus (Bisen et al., 1989), culm and leaf epidermal studies on Bambusa, Dendrocalamus,
Oxytenanthera and Gigantochloa (Sharma et al., 1986, 1987; Luxmi Chauhan et al., 1988; Agrawal and Luxmi Chauhan
1991, 1992) further proved the role of anatomical characteristics as diagnostic features. Information on root anatomy is
very limited. Anatomical and morphological studies carried out on fruits of five species of Bamboos (Appasamy, 1993)
reported variations in the structure of seed coat and storage tissues. Work on anatomical aspects carried out so far is
confined to about 48 species. No reports are available on species of Arundinaria, Chimonobambusa, Phyllostachys,
Pleioblastus, Racemobambos and Schizostachyum occurring in India.
MORPHOLOGY
The vegetative parts of a bamboo plant consist of roots, rhizome, culm, culm-sheaths, branches and leaves. The profuse
fibrous roots of bamboos form a dense network in the soil. The basal portion of the culm which grows horizontally
under the soil surface with short internodes is called the rhizome. The constricted portion of the rhizome is known
as the neck. Based on the structure of the rhizome two types of bamboos are reported. 1. Pachymorph (sympodial):
This type is solid, and usually short and thick. Bamboos with this type of rhizome are clump-forming. There are few
exceptions. 2. Leptomorph (monopodial): Bamboos with this type of rhizome continue their horizontal growth
without forming clumps. Their lateral buds give rise to new culms directly; very few produce long, slender, hollow
rhizomes (Bennet and Gaur, 1990b).
Culms in the majority of bamboos are hollow and the wall thickness varies with the species. The culms may be arching
or erect, semiscandent or scandent. Species of Dinochloa have the unique nature of zig-zag culms and Bambusa wamin
is characterized by pitcher shaped internodes. The sprouting of new culms occurs soon after the rains and the height
growth is completed within three to four months. The new growing culms are protected by culm-sheaths which are
modified leaves. Culm-sheaths are arranged in two ranks and they fall off when culms are mature, leaving the scars.
Culm-sheaths have imperfect blades, auricles and ligules. The general appearance, size, texture and shape of the culmsheaths
and their blades are useful characters for identification and based on these, a key for 22 species has been
developed by Chatterji and Raizada (1963). When the culm attains maximum height growth, the branches open out
from the nodes of the culms and the pattern of branching is characteristic to each genus. The typical branching behavior
is seen in the mid-culm regions with more branching towards the tip. On the basis of branching pattern, three types
of branching are recognised viz., single, triple and multiple branching in monopodial bamboos (Wenyue et al. 1987).
CHEMISTRY
The major chemical constituents of bamboo culm are cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin and the minor constituents are
resins, tannins, waxes and inorganic salts. The chemical composition varies with species, conditions of growth, age,
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