Chimonobambusa callosa Chimonobambusa callosa (Munro) Nakai, J. Arn. Arb. 6: 151. 1925; Bor in Kanjilal, Fl. Assam 5: 46. 1940; Bahadur, Indian J. For. 2: 237. 1979; Tewari, Monogr. Bamboo. 54. 1992. (Fig. 25). Arundinaria callosa Munro, Trans. Linn. Soc. London 26: 30. 1868; Gamble, Ann. Roy. Bot. Gard. Calcutta 7: 11. 1896, and in Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 7: 381. 1897; Camus, Les Bambusees 37: 1913; Blatter, J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 33: 900. 1930; Chimonobambusa callosus (Munro) Hsuesh and Yi, Acta Botanica Yunnanica 1: 84. 1979; Sinobambusa callosa (Munro) Wen, J. Bamboo Res. 1(1): 35. 1982. VERNACULAR NAMES Khasi hills - Uskong, Uspar, Spar, Sypar.
DESCRIPTION Shrubby, thorny plants. Culms ca. 6 m high and ca. 2.5 cm diameter, grayish green; internodes ca. 15 cm long, striate; nodes swollen, subtended by a ring-like scar formed by the fallen sheath, fringed with soft brown hairs and studded with short thick conical spines. Culm-sheaths ca. 15 cm long and 7 cm broad gradually attenuate upwards to 0.5 cm broad mouth with long bristles on both sides, edges ciliate; striate, loose, thin, yellowish, covered with bulbous-based hairs on the surface especially dense towards the base; imperfect blade ca. 2 cm long, striate, subulate, decurrent on the sheath; ligule short, up to 2 mm, fimbriate. Leaves ca. 20 cm long and 3 cm broad oblong-lanceolate, scabrous on the ventral surface, base unequal and attenuate into a ca. 2 mm long swollen petiole, tip acute; main vein prominent, secondary veins 6 pairs, intermediate 7, transverse veinlets many, distant; leaf-sheath striate, scabrous, ciliate on the edges, ending in a callus with short ciliae and few long bristles; ligule short, hairy, fimbriate. Inflorescence an axillary panicle, ending in leafy branchlets, subtended by sheathing papery bracts; rachis striate, flattened on one side, clavate, hairy; spikelet ca. 5 cm long, 8-12-flowered, the uppermost floret imperfect; rachilla ca. 5 mm long, flattened, glabrous; empty glumes 2, ovate-lanceolate, thin, ciliate, tip acute, outer glume ca. 5 mm long and 1.5 mm broad and 3-nerved; inner glume ca. 6 mm long and 2 mm broad, 5-nerved; lemma ca. 8 mm long and 3 mm broad, ovate, 7-nerved, tip mucronate and ciliate; palea ca. 7 mm, 2-keeled, ciliate on the keels, 2-nerved on either side of the keel, tip acute and ciliate; lodicules 3, ca. 2 mm, faintly nerved, fimbriate, two ovate-obtuse and one ovate-acute. Stamens 3; anther ca. 5 mm long, blunt or slightly pointed at the apex, basifixed; filament up to 1 mm long. Ovary ca. 3 mm long, ovoid-oblong, glabrous; style divided up to the base and each having one plumose stigma. Caryopsis ca. 6 mm long, linear-oblong, tipped with persistent base of style and stigma. FLOWERING Flowering has been reported from Khasia hills during 1857-58 and 1885. Flowering also has been reported from Arunachal Pradesh in 1957 and 1980. DISTRIBUTION The species is distributed in Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Meghalaya and Mizoram. Distributed mostly in warm temperate to sub-tropical zones. Grows in open clumps in evergreen forests, common in oak forests. It is the only underwood in evergreen hill forest which flourishes in deep shade (Tewari, 1992). USES The culms are used for thatching small houses. Young shoots are edible. |
Fig. 25. C. callosa.