BAMBOOS OF INDI A

Pseudoxytenanthera
1896; Camus, Les Bambusees 148. 1913; Oxytenanthera ritcheyi (Munro)
Blatter and McCann, J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 33: 773. 1929. Varmah and
Bahadur, Indian For. Rec. (n.s) 6(1): 4. 1980.
VERNACULAR NAMES
Maharashtra - Huda, Udhe, Manga, Tandali; Karnataka - Choomaree, Choua,
Chiwa, Chiwan, Chawa.
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DESCRIPTION
A medium sized strong bamboo. Culms 3-4.5 m high, nearly solid, densely
covered with deciduous soft, pale-yellow velvety tomentum; nodes prominent;
internodes 37-45 cm long, 2.5-3.5 cm diameter. Culm-sheaths thin, papery
at the margins, striate, sparsely covered with white appressed, stiff hairs, 15- P. ritcheyi - Seeds
22 cm long, 7.5 cm broad at the base, gradually attenuate upwards the apex,
rounded on either sides with deep sinus with imperfect blade attached at the
base. Leaves variable, 5-20 cm long and 2-4 cm broad, linear-lanceolate,
acuminate, rounded at the base, unequally into a 5 mm long flat petiole,
apex setaceous, twisted, pointed, glabrous above except for the scabrous points on vein near the margins and on the
midrib, sparsely hairy and pale beneath, scabrous on one side of the margin, mid vein yellow. Inflorescence a large
terminal panicle of spicate branchlets bearing dense globular heads of 5-6.5 cm diameter. Spikelets 2-2.5 cm long, less
than 2.5 cm broad, 1-flowered, glabrous, long-spinose apiculate, numerous, fertile and sterile about equal in numbers,
glumes ovate-mucronate, lower smaller, upper ovate-lanceolate, lemmas linear-lanceolate, convolute, long mucronate.
Paleas shorter than the lemma, not keeled, blunt. Stamens exserted, fused; anthers 5-7 mm long, bristly-apiculate,
bristles some what hairy at the apex. Ovary ovate acuminate, rounded, glabrous; style long; stigma one, plumose.
Caryopsis narrow, linear oblong, grooved ending in a conical mucro formed by the persistent base of the style.
FLOWERING AND FRUITING
According to Blatter (1929), this species flowered in 1852 in Kala Naddi; in 1870 in Satara Ghat; in 1884 and 1889 in
North Kanara; in 1892 in Mahabalashwar and Ahmednagar. Gregarious flowering was observed in Ambumala (Nilambur)
during 1987-88. Profuse fruit formation was observed during the flowering in 1987-88 in Nilambur, Kerala. Flowering
was again observed during 1995-96 from natural forests, Silent Valley, Kerala.
DISTRIBUTION AND ECOLOGY
The species is distributed in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. It is a light-demanding species and
generally found on tops of the ridges and hills in the Western Ghats.
FIBRE CHARACTERISTICS
Fibre characteristics of this species showed a fibre length 2.40 mm, diameter 14.6 µm, wall thickness 5.3 µm, lumen
diameter 4.0 µm (Bhanadri, 1981).
CHEMISTRY
Proximate chemical analysis of oven-dry culms showed ash 2.02 per cent, solubility in cold water 4.32 per cent, hot
water solubility 6.03 per cent, 1 per cent NaOH solubility 21.31 per cent, alcohol benzene solubility 3.44 per cent.
Percentages of lignin 27.3, holocellulose 68.5, (Bhanadri, 1981).
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