Description
From Bamboos of Thailand, Native and Introduced Species (Poaceae: Bambusoideae) — An Annotated Compilation, by D. Ohrnberger (Khun Dieter – คุณดีเท่อร์)
"Culms 6–12 m, 4–6 cm in diam., basally straight, apically slightly drooping; internodes 30–40 cm, fistulose, initially thinly white powdery, sometimes sparsely deciduously stiffly hairy below nodes; wall ca. 5 mm thick; nodes slightly prominent, basal several with rings of gray-white silky hairs below and above sheath scar; branching from 2nd or 3rd node up. Branches several or many, clustered, central 3 dominant. Culm sheaths deciduous, triangular to narrowly triangular, leathery, glabrous or sometimes very sparsely stiffly strigose, apex long slanted along one side, extremely asymmetrical, arched; auricles extremely asymmetrical, of various shapes, rigid, wrinkled; larger auricle extremely decurrent, oblanceolate to narrowly oblong, 5–6.5 × ca. 1.5 cm; smaller auricle suborbicular or oblong, ca. 1 cm in diam., or sometimes thoroughly joined to blade base; oral setae undulate; ligule 3–5 mm, irregularly dentate or laciniate, shortly fimbriate; blade deciduous, erect, asymmetrical, triangular to narrowly triangular, base slightly narrowed and then extending outward to join auricles, nearly 3/5 width of sheath apex, abaxially sparsely stiffly deciduous-hairy. Leaf blade abaxially green, lanceolate to broadly lanceolate, usually 12–25 × 1.4–2.5 cm, abaxially densely pubescent, adaxially glabrous. … [flowers and seeds described]." — Flora of China [#1303].
Habit a moderately dense clump. Culms up to 7 m long by 2.3 cm in diameter, erect, straight, bending outwards. Young shoots emerge from April to August. Culm-internodes 33–48 cm long, uniformly green, initially white farinose, distally scattered short dark hairy, otherwise glabrous, moderately thick-walled (wall 0.5 cm by 2.0 cm in diameter at 1 m height from the ground), basal internodes almost solid. Culm-nodes branched from the lower culm up. Culm-leaves deciduous. Culm-leaf sheath apex asymmetrically rounded. Culm-leaf auricles unequal. Culm-leaf blade two-thirds as long as the sheath, erect, triangular; blade base asymmetrical; persistent or late caducous.
Origin
Two varieties of Bambusa eutuldoides exist, but no records of their introduction into Thailand are known: (a) Bambusa eutuldoides var. basistriata, syn. Bambusa eutuldoides 'Viridivittata inversa'; lower culm internodes green with cream to yellowish-white narrow stripes; photo in iask.sina.com (culm); (b) Bambusa eutuldoides var. viridivittata, syn. Bambusa eutuldoides 'Viridivittata'; Asian Lemon Bamboo, China Lemon Bamboo; culm internodes peach and pink toned with green stripes when young, maturing to lemon yellow with green stripes; foliage leaf blades green with occasional yellowish stripes; photos in AsianFlora (culms, shoot) [#1332]; BambooWeb.info [#1340]; BambooCraft.net [#1341]; video on YouTube.
Uses
Culms for farm appliances and for building farmhouses; plants for low to medium-sized hedges and screens.
Cultivation
Easy-growing; in full sun, or temporarily in light shade, soil normal moisture-retentive to moist with good drainage.
References
Common Names
- English
- Asian Lemon
- Thai
- ไผ่ตาใหญ่ (phai ta yai)
- Chinese
- 大眼竹 (da yan zhu)