Gregarious flowering in Bambusa pallida Munro from Assam, India

摘要

Bambusa pallida Munro is a wild or semi-wild bamboo that occurs naturally at an altitudinal range up to 2000 m (Beena and Rathore, 2012). In India, it is widely distributed in Orissa, North Bengal, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Nagaland, and Tripura and also in neighboring countries viz. Bhutan, Myanmar, and Vietnam (Naithani, 2011; Borah etal., 2018). Munro (1868) has considered Bambusa pallida allied to Bambusa tulda Roxb. However, B. pallida is quite distinct from B. tulda by having small auricles of culm sheath and rounded imperfect blade of culm sheaths at the base. Even specimen quoted by Munro (1868) from Khasi, Jowye area of Meghalaya does not belong to B. pallida. Gamble (1896) has not mentioned affinity of B. pallida with B. tulda. According to him, B. tulda is more closer to B. nutans Wall, ex Munro. Specimens of Bambusa pallida quoted by Munro (1868) and Gamble (1896) from Khasi and Jaintia hills, Meghalaya are quite different from B. pallida. Therefore, Majumdar (1989) studied thematerial and segregated them and erected a species new to Science i.e. Bambusa jaintiana Majumdar. Thus, B. pallida is quite distinct from B. tulda. The National Bamboo Mission, Government of India has identified Bambusa pallida as one of the 13 speciesamong commercially important bamboo species. The species is locally known as Bijuli bahn (Assamese in Brahmaputra Valley, Assam), Bakhal or Burwal or Kalasundi (Bengali in Barak Valley, Assam) and Loto (in Karbi Anglong, Assam). Bambusa pallida is a common yet one of the most important bamboo species in the Barak Valley, Assam in terms of its commercial uses. The species is also cultivated in the plains in North East India owing to its diverse utilization such as house building material, raw materials for preparing handicraft items like baskets, wall plates, mats, traditional musical instruments, toys, and other decorative items; besides, the species is also used in the pulp and paper industry (Seethalakshmi and Kumar, 1998; Barooah and Borthakur, 2003; Beena and Rathore, 2012).