Bambusa vulgaris   

Bambusa vulgaris Schrad.

Family       : Poaceae

Common Name : മഞ്ഞമുള (Mal)

: भालु बाँस(Hin)

 : Golden Bamboo (Eng)

Culms tufted, erect, 10-20 m tall and 4-10 cm in diameter, smooth and shiny, glossy green, yellow, or yellow with green stripes; internodes 20-40 cm long, appressed with dark hairs when young, becoming glabrous; nodes oblique, basal nodes with aerial roots; culm sheath broadly triangular, 15-45 x 20 cm, upper ones longest, deciduous, light green becoming stramineous, covered with black hairs, margins hairy, apex slightly rounded at the junction with the blade, blade 4-5 x 5-6 cm erect, broadly triangular, slightly narrowed at the junction with the sheath, acuminate, hairy on both surfaces and along the lower part of the margins; ligule 3 mm long, slightly serrated; auricles 0.5-2 cm long, with pale brown bristles along the margins. Leaves 6-30 x 1-4 cm, glabrous; ligule subentire rim 0.5-1.5 mm; auricles small rounded lobes with a few bristles. Inflorescence usually on leafless branches from middle of the culms; pseudo-spikelets in small groups of at the nodes, 2-6 cm apart. Spikelets 12-20 mm long, laterally flattened, perfect florets 5-10. Seed setting not common.

Culms : Tufted Height: 8-20m  Diameter:5-10cm  

Culm Color: Yellowish

Internode Length: 45cm  Culm Sheath Colour: 15-25 cm long and 25-35 cm broad, rounded and truncate at top, oftenbeautifully streaked when young with green and yellow, striate, adaxial surface densely covered with thick appressed brown-black hairs, edges ciliate; ligule 5-8 mm tall, continuous with the top of the sheath, dentate or sometimes entire, margin ciliate; auricle 2, subequal, continuous with the blade, ca. 1 cm high with pale stout curved bristles 6-8 mm long;blade somewhat triangular, bright yellow, acute, 5-15 cm long and up to 10 cm broad, appressed-hairy with shining blackhairs on adaxial surface, margins bristly.

Length of Leaf: 15- 25cm  Breadth of Leaf : 2- 4cm  

Leaf Shape: Narrowly or broadly lanceolate

Use: Construction, scaffoldings, pulp and paper, fence, decoration, handicraft

Distribution : Native of China and Japan, introduced elsewhere

Flowering Cycle: 40 years

Flowering & Fruiting : January-April