Citation: Arundinaria floribunda Thw., Enum. Pl. Zeyl. 475. 1864; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 7: 377. 1897. Indocalamus floribundus (Thw.) Nakai, J. Arnold Arbor 6: 148. 1925. Sinarundinaria floribunda (Thw.) Chao & Renv., Kew Bull. 44: 356. 1989; Seethalakshmi & Muktesh, Bamboos of India 270. 1998.

Malayalam Name(s):

Tamil name(s):

English name(s):

Description: Shrubby bamboo with erect culms from sympodial, pachymorph rhizomes, with hollow culms to 2.5 m tall, the internodes light green and mottled with purplish- black specks when young, roughened, especially toward the summit bearing a ring of purple hairs when young, the older culms lighter in colour and smooth. Culm leaves deciduous, the sheath light green flushed with maroon, sparsely hirsute throughout with maroon hairs, becoming stramineous, pushed off by developing branches and leaving a small glabrous ring of tissue at the base; blade soon abscissile, ca 3 cm long, 2-3 mm wide, ca 1/3-1/4 the length of the sheath, linear- lanceolate, with a truncate base narrower than the sheath and an acuminate tip, erect at first, becoming horizontal or reflexed; ligule a short membrane ca 0.5 mm long, puberulent abaxially. Nodes containing a single branch bud. Branching: central branch and two laterals developing more or less simultaneously, followed by other branches from these axes to form a whorl of usually 5 more or less equal branches, the latter maybe rebranching but at maturity the whole branch complement not crowded, the branches continuing in length with usually 6-10 leaves in the terminal complement, the lower part of the branch consisting of only hard, persistent, overlapping sheaths. Foliage leaves glabrous, the blades 9-18 cm long, 1-1.7 cm wide, lanceolate, narrowed abruptly at the base and extending terminally into an acuminate tip, the midvein prominent especially on the lower surface, the margins thin, glabrous or sparingly antrorsely scabrous, transverse veinlets manifest on both surfaces; sheath summit fimbriate on either side of the short petiole and ciliolate between (outer ligule); ligule a short rim not manifest, petiole hardly differentiated, represented by the gradually narrowed base of the blade. Inflorescence terminating the branches, a large spreading panicle ca 15-20 cm long, 8-10 cm wide, the branches glabrous and with pulvini on the upper surface at the axil, the pedicels 7-8 mm long, each bearing a many-flowered spikelet. Spikelets purplish, 2.5-3.5 cm long, usually 5-7 flowered, the lowest floret longest and most complete, the uppermost smallest and aborted, each separated by a narrow rhachilla segment which is flat and glabrous at the base, becoming pubescent upwards and short-pilose on the upper half, the hairs especially dense on the rim at its juncture with the anthecium. Glumes 2, the lower 3.8-5.6 mm long, ovate-triangular, glabrous, with a few cilia on the upper edges, 5-nerved, the upper 5.5-6.1 mm long, ovate-lanceolate, glabrous, with a few cilia on the upper edges, 7-nerved. Lemma of lower florets 8.5-10 mm long, ovate-lanceolate with an apiculate tip, 7 or 8-nerved with some transverse veinlets, scabrous; palea a little longer than the lemma, with 2 keels and 2 broad wings, each with 1 or 2 nerves, sulcate between the keels, bifid at the apex, scabrid, especially towards the summit; lodicules 3, 1.5-2 mm long, the anterior pair rhomboid and narrowed at the base, the posterior lanceolate, all ciliate on the apex, thickened at the base, many-nerved; stamens 3, the anthers orange-yellow, basifixed, 4.3-6 mm long; ovary not found. Fruit not described.

Habit: Shrub

Flowering & Fruiting:

District(s): Idukki

Medicinal:

Habitat: Shola forests

Distribution: South India and Sri Lanka

Aquatic: No

Epiphyte(s): No

Saprophyte: No

Stem parasite: No

Root parasite: No

Flower colour(s):

Weed: No

Monocot/Dicot: Monocotyledonous Plants

Exotic: No

Garden: No

Edible: No

Vegetable: No

Endemic to:

IUCN status:

Altitude: 1600-2200

Localities:

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