BAMBOOS OF INDI A

Bamboos of India
VERNACULAR NAMES
Bengal - Basini bans, Bansini bans; Orissa - Sundrogai.
DESCRIPTION
A graceful, tufted bamboo. Culms 4-8 m high, 5-8 cm in diameter, glabrous, yellow with light green stripes or rarely
light green with yellow stripes, shining; internodes 10-15 cm long, thick- walled. Culm-sheaths somewhat similar to
B. vulgaris but smaller. Leaves 15-20 cm long and 2-2.5 cm broad, linear-oblong or oblong-lanceolate, base obtuse and
oblique, glabrous and glaucous beneath; petiole short; leaf-sheath smooth, glabrous; ligule short, truncate, ciliate.
Inflorescence a large leafy compound panicle bearing spicate branches with heads of spikelets in bracteate clusters of
3-10, clusters larger at the nodes; rachis somewhat furrowed, end segments hairy. Spikelets 1.5-2 cm long, oblong, acute
bearing 1-2 empty glumes; flowers 6-10; empty glumes ovate-acute, ciliate at tip, many-nerved; flowering glume larger;
palea bluntly acute, 2-keeled, faintly 3-nerved. Lodicules 2, unequal, ovate-oblong, membranous. Stamens exserted;
anthers narrow, apiculate; ovary narrowly oblong, hairy; style 3; stigma plumose.
FLOWERING
Hooker (1874) reported flowering of this species in November 1873.
DISTRIBUTION AND ECOLOGY
Native to China and Japan. Commonly cultivated all over India, as an ornamental. This species grows up to an altitude
of 1000 m.
ANATOMY
Internodal epidermis consisting of a single row of thick-walled cells, and hypodermis with 1-2 layers of thick-walled
sclerenchyma cells. Cortex parenchymatous 6-8 layered. Fibre strands present. Protoxylem cap persistent. Inner lining
of the cavity 5 to 6 layered, of thick-walled parenchyma cells (Sekar and Balasubramanian, Personal communication).
Vascular bundles irregular at the nodes. Sclerenchymatous bundle sheath and cap present on the side of phloem and
protoxylem. Vascular bundles are more at the peripheral region. Parenchymatous tissue oval in shape with inclusion
(Appasamy, 1989). Fibre types - very thick, thick, thin and very thin, septate fibres absent, tips pointed or blunt, wall
lamellation 3-7 layered. (Sekar and Balasubramanian - personal communication). Vessel elements short and wide with
simple perforation plates. Lateral wall pitting opposite and pits elliptic.
Fibre length 2028 µm, diameter 10.2 µm, lumen width 6.7 µm, wall thickness 5.1 µm. Slenderness ratio 198.8, flexibility
ratio 65.6, Runkel ratio 1.5.
CHEMISTRY
Chemical composition of culms from Philippines showed holocellulose 63.6%, pentosan 21.5%, lignin 25.9%, solubility
in alcohol benzene 3.7%, hot water 3.9 per cent, 1 per cent NaOH 24.7 per cent, ash 3.0 per cent, silica 1.3 per cent
(Tamolang et al., 1980).
Spectral absorbance value for cellulose 0.313, lignin 0.302 (Sekar and Balasubramanian - personal communication).
USES
It is mainly used for ornamental planting; culms are used as poles. In Indonesia, it is used in building construction.
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