Bamboo in Asia

IDRC
CRDI
C A N A D A
The International Development Research Centre is a public corporation created by the parliament of Canada
in 1970 to support research designed to adapt science and technology to the needs of developing countries,
food and nutrition sciences; health sciences; information sciences; social sciences; earth and engineering
sciences; and communications. IDRC is financed solely by the. Parliament of Canada; its policies, however,
are set by an International Board of Governors. The Centre’s headquarters are in Ottawa, Canada.
Regional Offices are located in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East.
FORSPA
The Forestry Research Support Programme for Asia and the Pacific (FORSPA) is funded by the Asian
Development Bank and the United Nations Development Programme. It is executed by the Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The objectives of FORSPA are to strengthen national
research capabilities in the developing countries of Asia and the Pacific, promote technology transfer and
increase the access of forestry research institutes to updated information services. FORSPA is committed to
encouraging young scientists to undertake forestry research for the long-term good of the region’s forests.
INBAR is a research network promoting better production and use of bamboo and rattan.It is currently co-
sponsored by the International Development Research Centre of Canada (IDRC) and the UN International
Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). The major areas of research on the two commodities include
socio-economics, production, post-harvest technology and information including technology transfer and
training. INBAR is hosted by the IDRC Regional Office in New Delhi.
(Cover photo by Dr. Songkram Thammincha)

TECHNICALDOCUMENT
GCP/RA!S/134/ASB
FORSPA PUBLICATION 6
Proceedings 4th International Bamboo Workshop on
BAMBOO IN ASIA
AND THE PACIFIC
held at Chiangmai, Thailand, November 27-30, 1991
international Development Research Centre

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
United Nations Development Programme
1994
Funded by:
* Asian Development Bank
* United Nations Development Programme
Executed by:
* Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Objectives
* To strengthen national research capabilities in the developing countries of the Asia
Pacific Region
* To promote technology transfer (from lab to land) through effective dissemination of
research results to users
* To enhance collective self-reliance of Forest Research Institutes *(FRIs) through
networking
* To increase the access of FRIs to updated and comprehensive information services
* To provide the FRIs a window of opportunity to forge links with global forestry research
Advisory Group for FORSPA
Mr. Wang shiji Dr. G. Stocker Dr. M.K. Muthoo

Consultant, Forest Research Director, Papua New Guinea Director, Operations Services,
Institute, Chinese Academy of Forest Research Institute, Lae, FAO Headquarters, Rome,
Forestry, Beijing, China. Papua New Guinea. Italy.
Dr. D.N. Tewari Dr. Suree Bhumibhamon Dr. Salleh Mohd Nor
Director-General, Indian Forestry Faculty, Kasetsart President, International Union
council of Forestry Research & University, Bangkok, Thailand. of Forest Research
Education (ICFRE)., Dehra Dun, Organizations (IV’FRO).
India.
Mr. Wartono Kadri Dr. B.N. Ganguli Mr. S. Zakharia
Indonesian Adivisor for Senior Forestry Specialist, Chief, Regional Programme
Forestry Research, Jakarta, Asian Development Bank, Division, United Nations
Indonesia. Manila, Philippines. Development Programme,
New York, USA
Dr. Fqjio Kobayashi Dr. Colin Ogbourne Mr. LR Jiko
Japan Forest Technical Director-Information Services, Head, Sibiculture Research
Association (jAFT.A), Tokyo, CAB. International, Division, Forestry Department
Japan. Walling ford, United Kingdom. P.O. Box 2218, Suva, Fiji
The designations and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expressi o n
of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the Unit e d
Nations (FAO) concerning legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or
concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.
FORSPA Secretariat: Dr. C.T.S. Nair, Senior Programme Advisor
Mr. Anders Jensen, Associate Professional Officer
Ms. Berenice Muraille, Associate Professional Officer
Ms. Panida Jongkol, Secretary
Mr. Pathomchai Saengduangdee, Secretary
Contact address: FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific
39 Maliwan Mansion, Phra Atit Road
Phranakhon District, Bangkok 10200
THAILAND
Tel: (662) 281-7844
Fax: (662) 280-4565
Table of Contents
Foreword
Dedication
Session 1: Bamboo Resources
Bamboo resources in Thailand: how much do we know? 1

Soejatmi Dransfield
Endemic bamboo from Sumatra 5
Elizabeth A. Widjaja
Exploring bamboo germplasm in Sumatra 7
Elizabeth A. Widjaja
Five genera of Bambusoideae (Gramineae) recently found in Yunnan, China 15
Chi Ju Hsueh (Xue Ji Ru) and De Zhu Li
Ochlandra (bamboo reed) a vanishing asset of forests in Kerala, South India 18
S. Chandra Basha
Studies on bamboo species growing in Indo-Nepal Terai region and the Bihar 27
state of India
Jainendra Kumar and Ashok Kumar Sinha
Notes on taxonomy, distribuiion and conservation of bamboo for Banbladesh 32
Alam, M.K.
The bamboo resource in Sri Lanka 37
Swarnamali, P.A. and Vivekanandan, K.
Ochlandra stridula Moon ex Thw. - a profile 41
Neela de Zoysa
The need for conservation of Arundinaria alpina K. Schum. in Kenya and its 48
ecological significance
Sigu Gordon Onduru
Remote sensing application in bamboo evaluation: a case study in Kerala 51
Menon, A.R.R.
GIS on bamboo distribution in Kerala 55
P. Vijayakumaran Nair
Availability, distribution of bamboo and its industrial status in Peninsular 60
Malaysia
Abd. Latif Mohmod and Abd. Razak Othman
Session 2: Growth, Physiology and Genetics
The flowering of bamboo: fallacies and facts 68

Sharma, M.L
Nutrient cycling in bamboo stands: nutrient input and its loss through run off in 71
watersheds in pure Phyllostachys pubescens Stands.
Fu Maoyi; Cao Qungen; Fang Mingyu and Xie Jingzhong
Introduction and early performance of some Asian bamboo species in Kenya 79
Kigomo, B.N.
Comparative performance of bamboo with the horticultural crops in Konkan 85
Wagh, R and Rajput, J.C.
Session 3: Management of Natural Stands
The sustainability of bamboo supply in Peninsular Malaysia 87

lsmarish Hj. Ahmed and Nor’zini Haron
Growth of bamboo on degraded soil: a preliminary report 92
Abd. Rasak Othman
Culm yield and biomass productivity of Laak (Sphaerobambos philippinensis) 95
Virtucio, F.D.; Manipula, B.M. and Schlegel, F.M.
Culm production of Bambusa arundinacea in natural forests of Kamatka, India loo
Lakshmana, AC.
Thinning: a tool for higher productivity in Dendrocalamus strictus 104
Laksmana, AC.
Effect of thinning, cutting age and felling cycle on culm yield of Buho 106
(Schizostachyum lumampao) natural stands
Virtucio F.D. and Tomboc, C.C.
Session 4: Plantation Technology
Studies on seed germination, seedling growth and nursery management of 113

Melocanna baccifera (Roxb.) Kurz.
Banik, R.L
Germination and fertilization of Cigantochloa ligulata seedlings 120
Azmy Hj. Mohamed
Mass production of field planting stock of Dendrocalamus hamiltonii vegetatively 123
through macro-proliferation
Adarsh Kumar; Mohinder Pal and Shiv Kumar
Studies on the selection and breeding of shoot producing bamboo 128
Zhang Cuang Chu and Chen Fu Qiu
Bamboo farming: an economic alternative on marginal lands 133
Patil, V.C.; Patil, S.V. and Hanumashetti, S.I.
Bamboo has an important role in agroforestry management models 136
Fu Maoyi; Fu Jinhe and Fang Mingu
Native bamboo: situation, local management and agroforestry/community 141
forestry perspectives at the Sub-Lanka forest village
Permsak Makarabhirom
Management of bamboo shoot stands in Linan County, China 149
Wan Anguo
Session 5: Propagation
Somatic embryogenesis and plant regeneration from Mexican weeping bamboo, 153
Otatea acuminata aztecorum
Woods, H.S.; Wood, J.E.; Phillips, C.C. and Collins, C.D.
Towards regeneration and mass propagation of bamboo through tissue culture 157
Saxena, S. and Bhoswani, Sant. S.
Micropropagation of Dendrocalamus hamiltonii Munro using single node 165
cuttings taken from elite seedling plants
Sood, A.; Palni, LM.S.; Sharma, M. and Sharma, O.P.
Integrated propagation of Dendrocalamus hamiltonii Munro by using partially 169
juvenile culms
Sharma, O.P.
Tissue culture alternatives in bamboo improvement 174
Li Chun Huang and Bau Lian Huang
Session 6: Properties and Utilization
Effect of age on the physio-mechanical properties of some Philippine bamboo 180

Espiloy, Z.B.
Effect of age and hei ht position on Muli (Melocanna baccifera) and Borak 183
(Bambusa balooda) %a mboo on their physical and mechanical properties
Sattar, M.A; Kabir, M.F. and Bhattacharjee, D.K.
Physical and strength properties of Dendrocalamus strictus grown in Kerala, 188
lndia
Cnanaharan, R
Anatomical characteristics of Taiwan giant bamboo and Moso bamboo 193
Shuen Chao Wu and Jung Sheng Hsieh
The ultra (micro) structure of Taiwan giant bamboo and Moso bamboo 199
Jung Sheng Hsieh and Shuen Chao Wu
Structure and functions of the nodes in bamboo 213
Liese, W. and Ding, Y.
Fiber and chemical properties of Bambusa vulgaris Schrad. 218
Jamaludin Kasim and Ashari Abd. Jalil
Structural variability of vascular bundles of some exotic bamboo species 222
Yi Chung Wang; Jung Sheng Hsieh and Shuen Chao Wu
Carbohydrates in commercial Malaysian bamboo 227
Abd. Latif Mohmod; Khoo, K.C. and Nor Azah Mohd. Ali
Variation in physical properties of two Malaysian bamboo 232
Abd. Latif Mohmod; Wan Termeze Arfin and Hamdan Husain
A hand operated bamboo slicing tool 237
Crewal, S.; Mohd. Rashid Samad and Abd. Latif Mohmod
Field evaluation of preservative treated bamboo 243
Cnanaharan, R.
The production of active carbon from bamboo and its application in keeping 247
food fresh
Kenji Hoskawa and Takahisa Minamide
Bamboo in Indian pulp industry 250
Adkoli, N.S.
Urea particle board from Bambusa vulgaris Schrad. 255
Chew Lian Teck; Nurulhuda Mohd. Nasir and Jamaludin Kasim
Utilization of bamboo in the Kathmandu valley of Nepal 258
Poudal, P.P.
Development and utilization of bamboo resources in Yunnan Province, China 263
Yang Yuming and Wang Jian Hao
Prospects for bamboo based products as replacement for wood in Yunnan 270
Yang Yuming and Zhang Hong Jian
A glimpse of bamboo resource utilization in Yunnan Province, China 273
Xue Jiru; Yin Zhongwen and Yang Yuming
Session 7: Bamboo as an Engineering Material
The future of bamboo 278

Janssen, J J.A.
An improved clay based building material: conclay 281
Gulson, G.A.
Provisional specifications for clay house construction 283
Foch, C.R; Conceicao, J.E’.T.; Consalves, A.J.C.
Connection of bamboo elements Arce, 0. 287
An improved and economical process for manufacture of bamboo mat board 292
Zoolagud, S.S. and Rangaraju, T.S.
Application of bamboo mat composites in construction and packaging 299
Damodaran, K. and Jagadeesh, H.N.
Philippine bamboo furniture industry - prospects and problems 305
Rojo, J.P.; Foronda, S.U. and Aggangan, RT.
Mature bamboo in mass housing 309
Mishra, H.N. and Sanyal, S.N.
Preservation of bamboo mat boards: glue line additive, a simple method to 315
preserve mat board
Kamal, S.ZM. and Padmanabhan, S.
Upgraded bamboo as a housing material: the step from science to shelter 317
Dunham, D.C.
Session 8: Pests, Disease and Detioration
Diseases of bamboo: a world perspective 323

Boa, E.R
Characterization of bamboo mosaic virus isolation from infected green bamboo 327
(Bambusa oldhamii Munro) in Taiwan
Na Sheng Lin and Yau Heiu Hsu
Insect pests of bamboo shoot in Thailand 331
Surachai Choldumrongkul
Session 9: Information and Technology Dissemination
Information for bamboo research: to establish a database complex: China 336

bamboo
Zhu, 5. and Zhang, X.
Information for bamboo research: activities of the Bamboo Information Center, 339
India
Pillai, K.S. and Ravindan, K.
Bamboo research and development in the Philippines 341
Tomboc, C.C. and Virtucio, F.D.
Session 10: Socio-Economics and Marketing
Bamboo in Malaysia: past, present and future research 349

Aminuddin Mohamad and Abd. Latif Mohmod
Participants in the Fourth International Bamboo Workshop 360
FOREWORD
This publication is based on the papers presented at the Fourth International Bam-
boo Workshop held in Chiangmai, Thailand, in 1991 and organized by the Faculty of
Forestry, Kasetsart University and the Royal Forest Department. It was sponsored by
the International Development Research Center of Canada (IDRC) with the active
support of The International Union of Forestry Research Organizations (IUFRO).
We wish to acknowledge with thanks contributions made by Professors Songkram

Thammincha and Dr. Anan Anantachote from the Faculty of Forestry of Kasetsart
University as well as the late Dr. Y.S. Rao of the Forestry Research Support Programme
for Asia and the Pacific (FORSPA) in bringing out this publication. Special mention
must be made of the active interest taken by Ms. Berenice Muraille, Associate Pro-
fessional Officer with FORSPA, who took over the task of getting this publication
done after the tragic and sudden death of Dr. Y.S. Rao.
C.T.S. Nair Cherla Sastry

Senior Programme Advisor Senior Programme Specialist
FORSPA IDRC
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
INBAR and the preceeding informal network, the IDRC Bamboo and Rattan Research
Network in Asia, have been holding a series of international workshops on bamboo for
over a decade. These workshops provide a forum for information exchange on research
and development activities in bamboos amongst participants from developing and
industrialized countries worldwide. The International Bamboo Workshop held in
Chiangmai, Thailand, in 1991 was the fourth in the series, and the Fifth International
Bamboo Workshop was held last year in Bali, Indonesia.
The proceedings of the Chiangmai Workshop were widely sought after and quickly went
out of print. Because of the large number of requests, INBAR is funding a second printing
of Bamboo in Asia and the Pacific, together with FORSPA which has provided the films.
We are confident that readers will find the proceedings a significant addition to their
reference collection.
Cherla B Sastry C.T.S Nair

Director Senior Programme Adviser
INBAR FORSPA
May 1996
Bamboo Resources
Proceedings 4th International

Bamboo Workshop, 1991
Bamboo in the Asia Pacific Proceedings 4th International Bamboo Workshop, 1991
Bamboo Resources in Thailand:

How Much Do We Know ?
Soejatmi Dransfield*
Introduction Bamboo species

It has been recorded that there are 41 species of bamboo in There are at least ten species of bamboo which are re-
12 genera in Thailand (Smitinand & Ramyarangsi, 1980); garded as being very useful; they are found mostly in the
this figure has been cited in most papers relating to the Central Region. Studies on many aspects of these species
bamboo of Thailand. There is, in fact, no critical taxo- are being carried out in Thailand. Because of this inves-
nomic account of Thai bamboo. “Bamboo of Thailand” by tigation there is no difficulty in recognizing these species.
Lin Wei Cheih, 1968 is merely a guide book, based on They are also found abundantly where they occur; local
Gamble’s and Camus’ works; which are in need of a criti- people utilize them for every day purposes and collect the
cal revision. In fact no extensive and intensive inventory bamboo from wild populations. One, Thyrsostachys sia-
work on bamboo has been carried out. mensis, has now become a popular garden plant outside
Thailand.
The bamboo flora of Thailand is rich and diverse. The
country is surrounded by bamboo rich areas which have The summary of 60 species currently identified is pres-
different types of vegetation, such as Wet Tropical vegeta- ented in the Appendix I, of which 18 species are found in
tion in the south and south- west, or Dry Dipterocap forest the Peninsula,
and grassland in the central and eastern part. Bamboo spe-
cies found in the dry areas are different from those grow- Schizostachpm, a genus of about 30 species distributed
ing in the wet tropics; for example, Dendrocalamus mainly in Malaysia, is represented by five species in Thai-
strictus has never been recorded growing wild in the south land. One of them is Schizostachyum zollingeri, a species
(Peninsula). also found in the Malay Peninsula and North Sumatra
(Indonesia). In April 1991 this species was seen growing
In the past, bamboos in Thailand have always been ex- abundantly in the south, especially along roads near Khao
cluded from the Flora accounts of the country, as they are Sok National Park. There is evidence that in the past this
regarded as village plants, or found growing in logged species was recorded growing in the forest (herbarium
over or secondary forests, or wastelands. In the past de- specimens at Kew). After the forest was disturbed (by log-
cade observations and investigations have been made on ging or constructing new roads), this species spread, occu-
several short visits to various parts of the country and her- pying empty spaces, together with other plant species. The
barium specimens collected for further study. Based on culms can reach 20 m tall with a diameter of 8 - 10 cm
this and on a study of herbarium specimens (mostly col- and have thin walls. At the time of observation, flowers
lected in 1950’s) housed in the Herbarium at Kew, En- were not seen. In the northern part of Malaysia (in Perlis)
gland, 60 species so far have been identified as occurring S. zollingeri was found flowering gregariously in 1981
in Thailand; they belong to 14 genera. Thai bamboos pres- and produced fruits in abundance (Won& 1981). In Perlis
ent several taxonomic and nomenclatural problems. The this species is utilized locally for making strips, plaited
botanical names are mostly adopted from taxonomic into ornamental motifs for walls or baskets (Wong, 1989).
works of neighbouring countries. In this paper a few spe- In North Sumatra the internodes are used for cooking glu-
cies from the south will be discussed as they could be po- tinous rice. Other Malaysian species found also in Thai-
tentially important for future bamboo research in land are S. grande (in the Peninsula) and 27. aciculare (in
Thailand. the north). The yellow variety of S. bruchycladum is
planted as an ornamental. The fifth Schizostuchyum
species is as yet unnamed; it is found growing in Khao described from Vietnam, was once collected from Doi
Yai National Park above 600 m altitude. sutep.
There are nine species of Gigantochloa identified as oc- The two species of Cephalostachyum found in Thailand
curring in Thailand. Three of them are also found in the (C. pergracile and C. virgatum) are quite different from
Peninsular Malaysia; they are Gigantochloa ligulata, G. the true members of the genus, which are found growing
latifolia and G. scortechinii. G. ligulata is found abun- in the mountains in North India and Nepal. The inflores-
dantly, especially in wastelands. The culms are about 6 m cences in C. pergracile and in C. virgatum resemble those
tall with a diameter of 4 cm and with very thick walls. of some species of Schizostachyum. A further critical
Flowers are found regularly. Another species, often found study is required.
dominating the landscape around Khao Sok National
Park, is related to G. balui from Borneo (Brunei, Sabah With 15 species Thailand has the largest number of Den-
and Sarawak). This bamboo grows on cleared ground at drocalamus species in SE. Asia. D. strictus is the most
the edge of the Vacharaprapha Dam and around the areas widespread species in mainland Asia, ocurring from India,
between limestone hills. As in the case of S. zollingeri, Burma, Bangladesh and Southern China, to Vietnam, and
this Gigantochloa sp. was found growing in the past in the is one of the most useful bamboo in the regions. There are
forest, and therefore can be regarded as native in the some taxonomic problems in the gemrs, one problematic
areas. In most species of Gigantochloa the culm sheaths species is D. membranaceus. When Munro (1868) de-
are usually covered with dark brown or black hairs scribed D. membranaceus for the first time, he cited three
(Widjaja, 1987); however in G. balui the culm sheaths and specimens which may belong to different taxa. It is not
the internodes have white hairs. The species of Gigantoch- certain, though, whether the common bamboo found
loa from the south of Thailand also has culm sheaths and growing in forests in Thailand identified as D. membra-
internodes covered with white hairs. Some clumps of this naceus is true D. membranaceus.
Gigantochloa were found bearing flowers in April 1991.
There are at least 3 species of Dinochloa in Thailand. One
The culms are erect, about lOm, tall with a diameter of
of them is from the north, and is named D. maclellundii
5-6 cm and with thin walls. Gigantochloa compressa,
(Munro) Kurz; its inclusion in the genus is doubtful, be-
which was described from southern Burma, is also found
cause flower and fruit have never been collected; flowers
on the west coast of the Peninsula. This species is much and fruits are very important to recognize Dinochloa spe-
more robust than Gigantochloa sp. from the south. The cies. The other two species are found in the Peninsula. D.
culm sheaths are covered with black hairs. It is found
andamanica is found primarily on the west coast. The oth-
growing scattered along roadsides or in disturbed forest.
er is found from Surathani to Pahang in the Peninsular
There are some taxonomic problems in the genus Gigan- Malaysia. This species has been wrongly identified as D.
tochloa in Thailand. G. nigrociliata (Buse) Kurz was
scandens (found only in Java, Indonesia) and is thus as yet
originally described from Java, and is believed to be native
undescribed and not named.
in Java, probably in Bali and in Sumatra (Widjaja, 1987).
The bamboo from central Thailand called as G. nigrocilia- There may be a second species of Melocanna to be found
ta probably belongs to different species. G. albociliata, in Thailand. Its identity is not certain, because flowers are
formerly described as Oxytenanthera albociliata Munro, not available. M bacczfera, the only other species, is not
is quite different from other typical Gigantochloa species; native.
sometimes it is included in Dendrocalamus. Oxythenan-
tera was described from Africa with one species 0. abys- Neohouzeoua and Teinostachyum are two closely related
sinica. Holttum (1958) suggested that Asiatic species of genera, also related to Schizostachyum. Holttum (1958)
Oxytenanthera do not belong to this genus, but belong to suggested they should be combined under Schizostachyum.
either Gigantochloa or Dendrocalamus. Holttum, howev- There are 3 species of Neohouzeoua and one of Teinosta-
er, did not make any formal transfer. Some of the species chyum in Thailand. A critical study on this group is
from Vietnam have been transferred to Gigantochloa needed.
(Nguyen, 1990) without explanation.
There are two small bamboo species found in the East and
The most widespread bamboo genus, Bambusa, is repre- North East of the country, identified as Arundinaria cilia-
sented by 12 species in Thailand. Three species from the ta and A. pusilla. These two species of Arundinaria were
mountains in the Peninsular Malaysia, B. montana (= B. first described from Vietnam, and recently have been in-
paucifora, B. klossii), B. wrayi-and B. cf ridleyi, are also eluded in a new genus, Kietnamosasa Nguyen, a genus of
found in the mountains in the south; they do not in fact 3 species (Nguyen, 1990). The genus is in fact still very
belong in Bambusa, but belong to different genera (KM. little known, and the identity of the two Thai small bam-
Wong, pers. comm.). There are still some unidentified boo is doubtful; further investigation is needed.
species of Bambusa collected from the north eastern part
Phyllostachys is a genus native in the temperate regions of
of the country, such as a species related to B. tulda but
Asia; some of the species have been introduced and
also related to B. (=Lingnania) chungii from China. B. planted in the tropics; P. aurea is occasionally planted in
sesquiflora (= L i n g n a n i a sequiflora McClure), formerly Thailand .
2 Studies on Bamboo Specks Growing in the Indo-Nepal Terai Region and Bihar State of India
Bamboo in the Asia Pacific Proceedings 4th Intetmtional Bamboo workshop 1991
Pros ects for some bamboo spe- the bamboo rich areas (such as southern China) could be
extended to Laos and Thailand.
cies from the Peninsula
It is already known that there are only a few species of
bamboo that produce good quality pulp, and that a vast Acknowledgements
quatity of culms is needed to supply a paper mill daily. In The trip to southern Thailand was part of the Kew (UK)
this paper, therefore, the subject of pulp production will Assistants field tour in Thailand conducted between
not be discussed firther. 9-29th April 1991. The trip was made possible and
successful with the generous help from the Herbarium
Generally Giguntochloa species have a wide range of uses, (BKF), Royal Forest Department, Bangkok. I would like to
because the culms are straight with relatively thin to mod- thank the Kew team for allowing me to join them and
erately thick walls and the nodes are not swollen; the BKF staff especially Mrs. Kongkanda Chayamarit and
young shoots are edible, although rather bitter. Prospects Dr. Weerachai Nanakom. Observations on bamboo spe-
for Gigantochloa sp. aff. G. balui and G. compressa could cies from the northern part of the Malay Peninsula were
be very good in cottage industries. In Malaysia G. scorte- made in December 1990 during my service to the Bamboo
chinii, which is also thriving after forest clearance, has be- Project conducted at FRIM, Malaysia, and tided by
come an important material for local people in their IDRC. I would like to thank IDRC and PRIM staff, espe-
cottage industries, such as for making satay sticks or in- cially Mr. Azmy Hj. Mohamed and Mr. Abd. Razak Oth-
censesticks. man. I am most grateful to IDRC for finding the trip to
attend this Workshop and other previous trips since 1980.
Further work required
This attempt to record the occurrence of bamboo species References
in the south does not include records of the quantities of Holttum, R.E. 1958. The bamboo of the Malay Peninsula.
bamboo. Because bamboo provide unlimited possibilities Gardens’ Bull. Singapore 16: l-135.
for investigation, it is suggested here to research bamboo Lin, W.C. 1968. Bamboo of Thailand (Siam). Bull. Taiwan
species found in the Peninsula; if necessary collaboration For. Res. Inst. (Special) 6: l-52.
with PRIM (Malaysia) could be established, where inves- Nguyen, T.Q. 1990. New taxa of bamboo (Poaceae-
tigations are being carried out on species found in the Bambusoideae) from Vietnam. Bot. Zhum. (Leningrad)
northern part of the country. However the correct name for 75( 2): 221-225.
the plant investigated is required and for #his voucher Smitinand, T. & Ramyarangsi, S. 1980. In Lessard &
(herbarium) specimens should be made or cited, otherwise Chouinard, Bamboo Research in Asia (Proceedings),
85-90.
the results of the investigation will have no value, lacking
this vital basic reference point. In this case inventory work Widjaja, E.A. 1987. A revision of Malesian Gigantochloa
(Poaceae-Bambusoideae). Reinwardtia 10 (3): 291-380.
should be conducted, during which much information on
each species in the Peninsula could be collected as well. Wong, K.M. 1981. Flowering, fruiting and germination of
the bamboo Schkostachyum zollingeri in Perlis. Malaysian
Extensive and intensive inventory work on bamboo in all Forester 44(4): 453-463.
parts of the country is essential in order to resolve taxo- Wong, K.M. 1989. Current and potential uses of bamboo
nomic problems of Thai bamboo. Moreover in this inven- in Peninsular Malaysia. Journ. Amer. Bamboo Soc.
7(1&2): 1-14.
tory work, further species of bamboo will undoubtedly be
found in Thailand, especially in the north eastern part of Wong. K.M. 1990. Gigantochloa balui (Poaceae-
Bambusoideae), a Bornean bamboo new to science. For.
the country. The distribution of some bamboo species from Dept. Occ. Paper (Brunei) 1: l-l 0.
Bamboo in the Ma Pacific Proceedings 4th International Bamboo Workshop, 1991
Appendix I
List of Thai bamboo species (based on preliminary Gtgantochloa albociliata (or Dendrocalamus albociliata)
investigation) G. compressa Parker, PEN.
G. hasskarliana (Kurz) Backer ex Heyne, doubtful
Bambusa bambos (L.) Voss. ex Vilm. Syn. B. arundina- G. latifolia Ridley, PEN & C.
tea (Retz.) Willd. G. ligulatu Gamble, PEN.
B. blumeana Schult. G. rostrata KM. Wong, PEN.
B. burmanica Gamble, N. G. scortechinii Gamble, PEN.
B. flexuosa Munro, NE. G. wrclyi Gamble, PEN.
B. montana (Ridley) Holtt, PEN. Gigantochloa sp. related to G. balui Wong, PEN.
B. multiplex (Lour.) Raeuschel Syn. B. glaucescens Gigantochloa sp. related to G. nigrociliata, SW & C.
(Willd.) Sieb. ex Munro Indosasa angustata McClure, E.
B. oliveriana Gamble, SW. Melocalumus compactiflorus (Kurz) Benth., N.
B. polymorpha Munro, N & SW. Melocanna bacctfera
B. sesquiflora (Lingnania sesquiflora McClure), N. Melocanna sp., NE.
B. tulda Roxb. Neohouzeoua chrlloa (Gamble) A. Camus, N & E.
B. vulgaris Schrad. ex Wendl. N. mekongensis A. Camus, SW, N & C.
B. wrayi Stapf, PEN, doubtful. Neohouzeoua sp., PEN.
Bambusa sp. related to B. ridleyi, PEN. Phyllostachys aurea
Cephalostachyum pergracile Munro, N. Schizostachyum aciculare Gamble, C.
C. virgatum Kurz, N & NE. S. brachycladum Kurz
Dendrocalamus asper (Schult.) Backer ex Heyne S. grande Ridl., PEN.
D. brandisii (Munro) Kurz, N. S. zollingeri Steud., PEN.
D. dumosus (Ridley) Holtt., PEN. Schizostachyum sp., C. & SE.
D. elegans (Ridley) Holtt., PEN. Teinostachyum sp. related to T griffithii Munro, C.
D. giganteus (Wall.) Munro Thyrsostachys siamensis (Kurz) Gamble
D. hamiltonii Nees & Arn. ex Munro, SW, N, & NE. T oliveri Gamble, WS.
D. latifrorus Munro, C, cult. Vietnamosasa ciliata (A. Camus) Nguyen, E.
D. longiftmbriatus Gamble, NE & SW. V pusilla (A. Camus) Nguyen, E.
D. membranaceus Munro, N, NE, WS.
D. nudus Pilger, N. Thailand Floristic Regions:
D. pendulus Ridley, PEN.
D. sericeus Munro, NE. N =* Northern Thailand
D. strictus (Roxb.) Nees NE = North-Eastern Thailand
Dendrocalamus sp., PEN. E = Eastern Thailand
Dinochloa andamanensis, PEN. SW = South-West Thailand
D. maclellandii (Munro) Kurz, N. PEN = Peninsular, South Thailand
Dinochloa sp., PEN.
4 Bamboo resources in Thailand: How Much Do We Know?

Bamboo in the Asia Pacific Proceedinns 4th International Bamboo Workshop, 1991
,
Endemic Bamboo from Sumatra*
Elizabeth A.
Abstact
Twenty five species of bamboo have been recorded as endemic to Sumatra. Of these only five species are
known systematically.Fifteen species are found in only a very limited area and some of them are used by lo-
cal people. Although the depletion of forests has taken place rapidly.bamboos in Sumatra are still in a very
therefore an assessment of the biodiversity is recommended.
one grove has been located. A population density study of these endemic bamboos has not been undertaken.
good condition. Only one species is really endangeredbacause it grows along the main road and so far only
cultivated Dendrocalamus asper is also found wild in the
lntrodwction forest margins at several areas in Indonesia. The
No intensive bamboo inventory has been attempted in any tentatively identified Dendrocalamus sp. 1 grows along
of the major islands of Indonesia so that the Sumatran the main road to Krui in Lampung Province. This species
bamboo diversity and distribution are not known. Conse- was seen abundantly for the first time in 1988, but it has
quently, at present it is difficult to present a picture of the been disturbed by the road construction recently. The
amount of exploitation done by the local people is not very
rarity or the endemism of the bamboos of this island. Re-
cent field work (Widjaja, 1991) seems to indicate that a clear, but they were observed using the culms for making
high number of the 56 species of bamboo recorded for baskets to collect sand and stones in the rivers. Fortunate-
Sumatra have endemic distribution. ly this species also grows in the Bukit Barisan Nature Re-
serve, but nevertheless protection measures to safeguard
Unfortunately new developments have taken place which this species will be urgently needed. Dendrocalamus sp. 2
need serious attention. The rapid depletion of forests and grows in the Sipirok Nature Reserve but the depletion of
destruction of habitats due to logging activities, trans- the forest habitat makes the disappearance of this species,
migration, land clearing and the increasing number of more rapid than in 1983. Dendrocalamus sp. 3 has never
bamboo industries have caused the loss of bamboo popula- been collected before; flowering specimens of this species
tions due to the lack of attention given to the wild, as well are needed for further study. This species occurs only in
as cultivated bamboos. Therefore an inventory is urgently the Desa Pinggir Nature Reserve along the road to the
needed before the threatened species are lost forever. logging area. Only one grove has been found, so further
exploration in the forest in this area is necessary to ascer-
tain its rarity.
Material and methods
A bamboo exploration and collection expedition was un- Populations of most species of Gigantochloa grow abun-
dertaken in Sumatra from Lampung in the south to Medan dantly in Sumatra. However Gigantochloa pruriens has
in the north of the island financed by IDRC grant. During been reported only in North Sumatra. There are many Su-
the exploration, herbarium specimens and living plant matran species of Gigantochloa not collected thoroughly
samples of each species encountered were made. The though the local people have been using them for a long
herbarium specimens will be deposited in BO, L and K, time. Most of the unidentified species of Gigantochfoa
whereas the living plants will be planted in botanical gar- also grow in the Nature Reserves.
dens and arboreta both in Sumatra and Java both as spe- Schizostachyum caudatum has been reported to grow in
cies collection as well as for germplasm stocks. Based on
Bengkulu Province because the type locality formerly was
the study of the results of these collections the rarity and
under the administration of Bengkulu Province. In fact
the endemism of Sumatran bamboo are determined.
this species grows in G. Pesegi and was brought and culti-
vated in Sukarame village, about 50 km on the way to
Results and discussions Krui where the type locality is located, and which now is
Table 1 shows that 25 species ( 4 genera) out of 56 species administrated by the Lampung Province. This species has
(10 genera) of bamboo recorded as occurring in Sumatra, a long historical association with the local people in Su-
are known to grow endemically in this island. Fifteen spe- karame, in that it is only planted in the old graveyards.
cies are found only in a limited area. No doubt this num- They do not use this bamboo due to their belief in its
ber will change when the inventory and the study of magical power. Other Schizostachyum species i.e. S.
population density of wild bamboo is completed. pleianthemum and S. undulatum were reported from
Bengkulu and West Sumatra. It seems that several un-
It is very surprising that some species of the genus Den- identified Schizostachyum have been found in the Bukit
drocalamus which were mostly introduced and are culti- Barisan Range which may represent the centre of diversi-
vated in Indonesia were found growing wild in the forest
margins in Sumatra. It is known that the commonly
*Text accompanying poster display at Symposium **Herbarium Bogoriense, Puslitbang Biologi-LIPI,Bogor,Indonesia

The uncertain genus is only represented by one grove the population density will be necessary for use in man-
found growing along the main road from Muara Bungo to agement, balanced utilization and conservation.
Jambi.
Because of the incomplete inventory of Indonesian bam- #References
boo, from the data discussed above it seems that the de- Kurz, S. 1984. Korte schets der vegetatie van hat eiland
gree of rarity of the bamboo species in Sumatra is very Bangka. Nat. Tijd. Ned. Ind. 27: 142-235.
high. Therefore it is suggested that an intensive inventory Van Hasselt, A.L. 1884. Lijst van bout-bamboe en rotan
of bamboo, a study on their diversity and assessment is ur- soorten. In Van Hasselt, A.L. & Boerlage, J.G. Bijdragen
gently needed. Although most of the species mentioned tot de kennis der flora van midden Sumatra. 37-40.
above are also found in Nature Reserves, an action plan Widjaja, E.A. 1991. Exploring Bamboo Germplasm in Su-
on conservation of these endemic bamboo in Sumatra and matra Indonesia. Paper presented on The IV International
Bamboo Workshop, Chiangmai 27-30 November 1991.
elsewhere in Indonesia has to be undertaken, preferably
after the in population status has been studied. A study on
6 Endemic Barnboo From Sumatra

Exploring Bamboo Germplasm in Sumatra, Indonesia

Elizabeth1 A. Widjaja*
Abstract
Fifty six species of bamboo have been recorded from Sumatra during an exploration undertaken In December
1990 to March 1991.include twenty two unidentified species and one species belonging to an uncertain ge-
nus. Since no herbarium specimens have been available for comparison in major herbaria, the unidentifled
species have apparently never been collected before although some of them have been mentioned by ban Has-
selt in his Central Sumatran list on bamboo published in 1884.The 56 species also include 11species intro-
duced into Sumatra by a private plantation as germplasm stock. The uses and distribution of the species
mentioned are discussed.
nursery. Later, living plants will be distributed to Indone-
Introduction sian Botanical Gardens - LIPI, the PUSPITEK Serpong
Bamboo play a very important role on the life of the rural Botanic Garden and the Arboretum of the Forest Depart-
people and now is more important economically, due to ment. Field data as : habitat, altitude, soil condition,
the development of several industries using bamboo as phenological data, uses and so on were accumulated in the
raw materials. Therefore an inventory of bamboo is very field.
u&id to find the bamboo suitable for specific purposes.
Most studies limited themselves to the utilization of bam- Taxonomic study
boo and the related technologies, so they only referred to Herbarium specimens of each species seen or collected
the same species of known widely used bamboo. Due to were made; taxonomic study was carried out on these and
the development of biotechnology, many research staff are existing collections. The identification of collected speci-
looking for germ plasm to be used as stock in selection mens was made in the Herbarium Bogoriense. Some of
and breeding work to improve bamboo production, includ- the herbarium specimens kept in Rijskherbarium, Leiden,
ing pest and disease resistant species and to improve the and the Forest Research Institute Herbarium, Kepong,
quality and quantity of the culms. were borrowed for comparison. A further taxonomic study
is being prepared.
However intensive bamboo exploration has never been
made in Indonesia although some botanists have collected
bamboo during general botanical expeditions in several Results and discussion
areas of the archipelago. This is also true for the island of Due to the scarcity of flowering specimens, taxonomic
Sumatra, so a general picture of the bamboo flora of this studies of bamboo were rarely attempted in the past. The
island is difficult to visualize. However, there are two im- major obstacle faced in studying Indonesian bamboo has
portant publications on bamboo from Bangka (Kurz, been the scarcity of representative collections, so that in-
1864) and Central Sumatra (van Hasselt, 1884) which can tensive field research was carried out. Kurz (1864) men-
be used as indication of the richness of the island. These tioned the existence of 6 species of bamboo growing in
publications contain only checklists, the first using botani- Bangka island, but during the field work in this island 15
cal names and the second, their vernacular names. species were found growing wild and scattered and also
Based on these considerations a project on bamboo germ- some of these were cultivated as village and garden bor-
plasm collection was initiated in Indonesia sponsored by ders. Van Hasselt (1884) published a list of 13 vernacular
the IDRC through a grant to the Indonesian National names of bamboo from Central Sumatra without giving
Committee for Germplasm Conservation. The first phase any identification. During these trips bamboo under the
of this study has been to collect bamboo germplasm, by same vernacular names were collected, not only from
exploration and inventory of bamboo in Sumatra, and also Central Sumatra, but also from Jambi, South and West
the gathering information on their distribution and Sumatra Provinces.
utilization in the areas visited. Based on the specimens collected in the field there are 56
species (10 genera) of bamboo growing in Sumatra.
Methodology Among them 11 species (6 genera) were introduced into
cultivation in recent years as germplasm stock and also for
Exploration and collection ornamental purposes. Due to the absence of reference
Collecting trips were undertaken by road in almost all specimens preserved in Bogor, Kepong and Leiden her-
Provinces of Sumatra. Visits to some Nature Reserves and baria, 22 species are as yet unidentified and even species
logging areas were made to collect wild bamboo; culti- could not even be assigned to its genus with certainty. The
diagnostic characters of these species are represented be-
vated bamboo were sampled wherever encountered.
Living collections made and cultivated in a Bogor low and a brief account of some noteworthy species is
given.
flowering in 1991. The other three unidentified species

Bambusa Schreb.
were found in the forest. All of them grow by leaning onto
The genus Bambusa can be recognized by the slightly zig- other plants and are characterized by a waxy powder on
zaging culm, rough aerial roots, shorter internodes and their culms and the papery margin of their culm sheaths.
the thick walled culms (except B. multiplex). It is also Dendrocalamus sp. 1 and sp. 2 were characterized by hav-
characterized by one dominant lateral branch among nu- ing long and climbing branches. I have never seen any
merous smaller lateral branches at each node growing in bamboo with climbing branches like those species. The
the lower part. Branches of B. vulgaris var. vulgaris, var. third unidentified species is characterized by its pendulous
striata and cv wamin grow on the upper parts only. The tiipped culm.
spikelet of Bambusa has 2 to many florets on a long ra-
chilla internode which terminates in reduced florets. Ev-
ery floret possesses 3 stigmas.
Dinochloa Buse
Dinochloa is the only bamboo which possess a climbing
There are two wild and five cultivated species of Bambusa Habit with zigzag culms and a dormant primary branch
in Sumatra. The wild species grows mostly along river bud among the small and short lateral branches. The ma-
banks and also in disturbed forests. The cultivated species ure culms of this genus are mostly solid. This genus can
are mostly propagated for ornamental purposes (i.e. B. be recognized by the distinctive rugose bases of the culm
multiplex and Bambusa sp. 2) and also for germplasm iheaths. The inflorescence is characterized by the pres-
stock (such as B. arundinacea, B. atra and B. forbesii). once of a number of very small spikelets which produce
There are 2 varieties of B. vulgaris (var. vulgaris and berry like endospermless fruits with fleshy pericarp.
var.1) growing wild and also cultivated. Both varieties
have green culms, but var. vulgaris has a dull green culm During these trips only one species, Dinochloa scandens
whereas the second variety has a shining green straighter was found growing in West Sumatra and Riau Provinces
culm. Bambusa sp. 1 is found only in Batam Isalnd. This including Batam Island), but it is expected that it will be
species is very close to B. heterostachya from the Malay found also in other Provinces.
Peninsula; further study of this species is needed. Bambu-
sa sp. 2 has variegated leaves and is grown as an orna- Gigantochloa Kurz ex Munro
mental plant; a flowering specimen is needed to confirm The genus Gigantochloa is characterized by sessile florets
its identity. with a terminal empty lemma. Some florets possess united
filaments and others have free filaments. The vegetative
Cephalostachyum Munro parts of this genus resemble those of Bambusa and Den-
The genus Cephalostachyum is recognized in the field by drocalamus on having one dominant lateral branch, but
thin and erect culms. C. pergacile was introduced from their culms are straight with aerial roots and mostly with-
Thailand a few years ago and was also planted 3 years ago out white wax (except in Gigantochloa sp. 4).
for germplasm stock. The identification of this plant needs
Of 17 species of Gigantochloa growing in Sumatra, eight
to be confirmed again after flowering specimens are
are unidentified. Gigantochloa sp. 1 has a green culm
obtained. with yellow stripes or sometimes with reddish yellow
stripes. This species is characterized by the possession of a
Dendrocalamus Nees rim like auricle on its culm sheath with long bristles. On
The vegetative parts of this genus are very similar to the his list of Bangka plants Kurz (1870) mentioned Gigan-
genus Bambusa, so it is rather difficult to separate them. tochloa maxima but the plant mentioned by him probably
The culm is always straight, with dense aerial roots on represented this species, as it was found abundantly in the
lower nodes. The lower internodes are shorter than the island and G. maxima ‘did not grow there. The second un-
upper ones (except in D. latiflorus). The upper parts of the identified species Gigantochloa sp. 2 also has a yellow
young culms are covered by a white waxy powder. One striped culm when young. Its culm sheath is covered by
dominant lateral branch among numerous smaller dense black hairs. A flowering specimen is needed for
branches is also found on this genus. The spikelet of this identification, Gigantochloa sp. 3 has appressed culm
genus has 1 to many florets on the hardly visible rachilla sheaths with dense black hairs covering the culm sheath
internodes. Every floret has 1 stigma and free filaments. and a rim like auricle and long bristles on the ligule of the
culm sheath. This species is very similar to Gigantochloa
Of the nine species of Dendrocalamus found in Sumatra scortechinii from Malay Peninsula, but further study on
3 are growing wild in Nature Reserves and are found only its flowering specimens is needed for confirmation. Gi-
in small populations. One species, D. asper grows widely gantochloa sp. 4 also has an appressed culm sheath,
in Sumatra, sometimes found growing wild and weed like rounded auricle with long bristles and bristly blade base.
in several forests. The other four species (D. giganteus, D Gigantochloa sp. 5 has young shoot characteristics very
strictus, D. brandisii and D. membranaceus) were culti similar to Gigantochloa sp, 3 but it differ in having a ca-
vated in Lampung Province for germplasm stock only and ducous culm sheath and dense brown hairs covering the
were introduced from Bogor (originally from Burma) and leaf sheath. A long prophyll covers its clustered spikelet
Thailand. D. latiflorus was introduced from Taiwan for and this feature characterizes this species, Gigantochloa
shoot production purposes in 1970 and it was found sp. 6 is characterized by brown velvety hairs on the nodes.
8 Exploring Bamboo Germplasm In Sumatra Indonesia

Gigantochloa sp. 7, found only in Bangka Island, has a sheath auricle bearing few bristles; its scar sheath is still
green culm with yellow strip and culm sheath auricle rim- appressed, and glabrous shoots. Schizostuchyum sp. 8 is
like with iong bristles. Gigantochfoa sp. 8 has appressed very similar to Schizostuchyum sp. 6, but differs in the
hair on its young culm. leaf size and clustering system of the spikelet. Schizosta-
chyum sp. 9 has yellow stripes on the lower culm; its culm
Melocanna Trin. sheath auricle is small, rounded with sheath extension
curved inward to protect the auricle; their ligules membra-
The genus Melocanna has long neck rhizomes
naceous and extended by the sheath extension.
(monopodial type) and the culms grow singly and erect.
This genus can be recognized by its appressed culm
sheaths with wavy apex, and long, narrow and curved Thyrsostachys Gamble
blades. It has a large endospermless fiuit with thick per- I’he genus Thyrsostachys has a very dense clump and the
icarp and large scutellum. culms are slender and erect with thick wall and short in-
ternodes; branches are few and seen only at the upper
This genus consists of only one species M bacciferu parts. The culm sheath is appressed so that the culm looks
which was only introduced into cultivation for germplasm whitish green and dirty.
stock.
This introduced genus consists of only one species found
Phyllostachys Sieb. et Zucc. in cultivation, It was introduced as an ornamental plant.
Phyllostachys has also long neck rhizomes, so culm char-
acters are similar to the genus Melocanna. Branches typi- Uncertain genus
cally are only two in each node. Nodes have a grove near This bamboo is characterized by scrambling habit with
the branches, so it can be easily recognized even if the one level branch developed as big as the main culm espe-
culms are dried. cially when the main stem is cut off. The smaller lateral
branches are not developed. The inflorescence forms ter-
The only species found in Sumatra is Phylfostuchys aurea. minally; only one clump has been found of this bamboo.
This species was introduced into the cultivation as an or-
namental plant and also has been maintained as germ-
plasm stock. Bamboo utilization in Sumatra
The most important uses of bamboo in Sumatra is for dai-
Schizostachyum Nees ly household tools and utensils in rural areas. Only a few
people build houses using bamboo in Sumatra because
The genus Schizostuchyum is characterized by its long in-
wood is not difficult to obtain. In several areas people use
ternodes, its thin walled culms (except for Schizostuchyum
caudatum which has solid culms), with many equal short bamboo for roofing. However people gather bamboo more
intensively in certain localities for biga, a kind of crystal
branches at each node. This genus produces flowers con-
obtained from the inside of the bamboo internodes. The
tinuously; the spikelets are terminal or sometimes on the
crystals are exported to Singapore for medicinal purposes.
leafless branchings.
Based on field observation biga can be obtained only from
There are 16 species of Schizostachyum growing in Suma- the following species: S. zollingeri, Schizostachyum sp. 4,
tra, nine of which are unidentified. Schizostuchyum sp. 1 Gigantochloa sp. 3 and Gigantochloa sp. 4. To obtain
is characterized by an erect to spreading blade of the culm biga one should cut mature culms but some people de-
sheath, and inconspious culm sheath auricle. Schizosta- structively bum clumps to get biga easier.
chyum sp. 2 has triangular blade with wavy margin and is
There are about five registered chopstick industries estab-
very similar to S. brachycladum and to S. undulatum.
lished in Sumatra. The industry does not maintain any
Schizostachyum sp. 3 has very long culm so that it leans
onto other plants; its culm sheath’s auricle can hardly be bamboo plantations for the raw material they need, so that
seen and bears a few bristles. Schizostachyum sp. 4 is the they depend on the natural stand which sometimes grows
common thin bamboo in Sumatra which has an appressed very far from their factory locality. Beside the chopstick
culm sheath and a conspicuous auricle up to 3mm with industry there are some canning industries in Sumatra.
long bristles. Schizostachyum sp. 5 has a big and rounded Most of them have not been selective in the species, but a
few used the best species only i.e. Dendrocalamus asper to
culm sheath auricle which bears few, and long bristles;
the leaf auricle curves outward and bristly. This species is meet the consumer requirement. Furniture industries have
very similar to a variety of S. bruchycladum also developed rapidly in several areas although the quali-
mentioned by
Holttum (1958), but a further close comparative study is ty and quantity are still very low so they are suitable only
needed. Schizostachyum sp. 6 has very small culm, only for local use. Basketry and handicrafts are commonly met
0.5- lcm in diameter but long, up to 15 m, so the clump with as home industries in the villages, but recently some
usually scrambles onto other plants. This swamp loving of them have developed under a patronage system, and the
bamboo is close to the S. tenue-S, gracile complex. handicraft industries are developing better.
Schkostachyum sp. 7 has a rounded and outward culm
Exploring bamboo germplasm in sumatra indonesia 9

in Sumatra and is followed by Jambi and West Sumatra

Distribution of Sumatran Provinces. It is expected that Bengkulu Province also has
bamboo a high number of wild species. It can be concluded, that
Most species found are distributed widely in Sumatra but the central part of Sumatra along the Bukit Barisan Range
25 species seemed to grow endemically in one area as represents the centre of bamboo diversity. The muuber of
shown on Table 1. There are some species such as Di- species growing in Sumatra could change when Aceh
nochloa scandens and Schizostachyum sp 6 which grow Province is explored. Based on the data accumulated in
only in the lowland, whereas Schizostachyum sp 6 grows the field it is suggested that such a bamboo inventory
in the swampy area. The wild species of the genera of should be done for other areas as well, so that information
Dendrocalamus, Gigantochloa and some Schizostachyum of bamboo potential could be gathered for use in future
grow mostly in the Bukit Barisan Range, which probably development considerations.
represents the centre of the bamboo diversity in Sumatra.
The wild species in the eastern part of Sumatra are domi-
nated by the genus Schizostachyum. References
Holittum, R.E. The bamboo of the Malay Peninsula. Gard.
Many cultivated species introduced from Java as : Bambu- Bull. Sing. 16: l-l 35.
sa vulgaris var. maculata Widjaja var. nov. ined., Gigan- Kurz, S. 1884. Korte schets der vegetatie van het eiland
tochloa apus and Gigantohcloa atroviolacea, were Bangka. Nat. Tijd. Ned. Ind. 27:142-235.
brought mostly by the Javanese, Balinese or Madurese Van Hasselt, A.L. 1884. Lijst van hout-bamboe en rotan
people when they transmigrated to Sumatra a long time soorten. In: Van Hasselt, A.L. & Boerlage, J.G. Bijdragen
ago. tot de kennis der flora van midden Sumatra; 37-40.
Widjaja, E.A. 1991. Exploring Bamboo Germplasm in Su-
From Table 2 it can be seen that the South Sumatra matra Indonesia. Paper presented on The IV International
Province has a greater number of the wild species growing Bamboo Workshop, Chiangmai 27 - 30 November 1991.
10 Exploring Bamboo Germplasm In Sumatra indonesia

2. Dendrocalamus sp.2 + I
13. Dendrocalamussp.3 + I
6 Gigantochloa sp.1 + -I- + + I

7. Gigantochloa sp.2 + + I
8 Gigantochloa sp.3 + + + + + + I
9 . Gigantochloa sp.4 + + + + +
10. Gigantochloa sp.5 + + I
11 . Gigantochloa sp.6 + + I
12. Gigantochloa sp.7 + I
+ I
16. Schizostachyum undulatum + I
17. Schizostachyum sp.1 + I
18. Schizostachyum sp.2 +
19 Schizostachyum sp.3 + I
20. Schizostachyum sp.4 + + + I
2 4 Schizostachyum sp.9 -I- I
25. Genus uncertain + I
- - - -
U U U U
+ + + +
+ + +
+ + + +
+ + +
+ + +
+ + +
+ + +
+ + +
+ + +
+ + +
Exploring Bamboo Germplasm In Sumatra Indonesia

Species lamp Bengk Jam Sum bar Bangka Status
2 5. Dendrocalamus membranaceus + C
Dendrocalamus + C
W I
+ W I
Dendrocalamus + W I
3 0. Dinochloa + + + W
. Grgantochloa achmadii + + W I
2. + + + C
3. + + + C I
+ + + C I
5. Glgantochloa + I
3 6. Grgantochloa + + + +
3 7. +
8. pseudoarundinacea + + + C I
-I- + + + + + C
Grgantochloa + + + W
+ + W
sp.3 + + + + + + W I
+ + + + + W I
+ + W I
sp.6 + + W 1
Grgantochloa sp.7 + W I
Glgantochloa + W I
8. ycladum + + + + + + + + I
9. cauda turn + I
0. irraten + + + W
I . + W
5 2. +
3. undulatum + W I
14 Exploring Bamboo Germqdasm In Sumatra indonesia

Five Genera of Bambusoideae (Gramineae)

recently Discovered in Yunnan, China
Chi Ju Hsueh (i.e. Xue Ji ru)* De Zhu Li**
Introduction The five genera

Yunnan Province is located in the southwest of China.
Geographically it lies between 21” 8’ 32” and 29” 15’18” Chimonocalamus Hsueh et Yi (1979)
north latitude and 97” 31’ 39” and 106" 11’ 27” east lati- The genus, with thirteen species and one variety, has its
tude with a total area of 383,000 sq. kilometers. The center of distribution in South Yunnan. It can classified
Tropic of Cancer passes through the south of the Province. into the Sino-Himalayan type. There are nine species in
Topographically, the north is higher. The elevation range Yunnan, some four species in adjacent NE India and Bur-
is 6,740 to 70 m . It has not only northern tropic and sub- ma, and another species also in SE Tibet (see Table 1).
tropic climate latitudinally but a climate range from sub-
tropic in the valleys to an alpine cold zone. Chimonocalmus are very important bamboo in the moun-
tainous area of Yunnan, especially in the altitude between
As a result of the complicated geomorphology and the 1,500-2,300 meters. It is usually the dominant plant under
prominent three dimensional climate differentiation, a di- the broad leafed forests. The vegetative features, except
versified vegetation is found in the Province : tropical rain the rhizome system, and the distributional habitats of the
forest; monsoon forest; laurilignosa; aestilignosa and aci- genus are similar to that of Chimonobambusa. A Japanese
culignosa distributed from the south to the north. The ve- botanist (Nakai, 1925) dealt with Chimonocalamus griffi-
getation is formed in four to five layers in vertical thinus as Chimonobambusa grifithiana but the inflores-
distribution from the subtropical laurilignosa, evergreen cence type, the structure of the spikelets and florets follow
deciduous mixed broad leafed forest, to the sub alpine aci- the Sinarundinaria type, Rhizomes of Chimonocalamus
culignosa, alpine shrubs and alpine meadows and the ice- are sympodial with no neck. Chimonocalamus is also
boundary vegetation. Bamboo is an important element in characterized by its fragrant essential oils in the culms.
the natural vegetation of Yunnan. The Albies- The main constituents of the essential oils are sesquiterpe-
Sinarundinaria community, a sub-alpine vegetation, is a noids, e.g. caryophyllane, humulane, nerolidol (M. Feng
good example of this. Sinarundinaria is the main food for & Hsueh). These have provided a solid base for the estab-
the giant panda, which has its center of distribution in SW lishment of the genus with phytotaxonomic evidence.
China, especially in Yunnan Province.
Because of its fragrant essential oils young shoots of Chi-
From the point of view of phytogeography, the Yunnan monocalamus species are delicious vegetables. The inter-
bamboo form a series of floristic elements. Dendrocala- nodes of Chimonocalamus flmbriatus are used as
mus, Cephalostachyum and Thyrsostachys are E. Asian containers for a special exported tea.
(Indo-Malaysian) elements, and have a natural distribu-
tion in South Yunnan, especially in Xishuangbanna and Qiongzhuea Hsueh et Yi (1980)
Dehong Autonomous Prefectures. Indosasa and Lingnania
(Bambusa subg. Lingnania) have their center of distribu- Qiongzhuea of the tribe Shibataeae, is similar to Chimo-
tion in SE. Yunnan; the two genera are also distributed in nobambusa in the inflorescences and spikelet structure.
the neighboring Guangdong and Guangxi Provinces and The main differences is in the reproductive organs which
in N. Vietnam. The bamboo elements of NE Yunnan are in Qiongzhuea have primary pseudospikelet branching,
the same as that of Sino-Japanese floristic region, espe- bracts and nut like fruits. The shoot growth is often initi-
cially that of central China; Phyilostachys is a representa- ated in spring and the shoot is never black due to the reac-
tive of this. Nearly two hundred species are found in the tion of enzymes. The culm nodes are usually prominent
and have no spine like root primordia.
Province. This paper introduces some genera discovered
in the past twelve years by the Chinese botanists. The genus Qiongzhuea comprises eight species and one
form, D. Z. Li & Hsueh, 1988 (Table 2). It has its natural
Yunnan is the modem center of distribution of woody
bamboo. The bamboo recognized by early authors (Y. L. distribution in central Chinas’ floristic region (C. Y. Wu,
1979) Sichuan, Hubei, Guizhou Provinces and NE Yun-
Keng, 1959) showed only six species of three genera. Re-
cently 170 species have been recognised here. It is esti- nan. The natural altitude of the genus ranges from
mated there are nearly 200 species of bamboo in Yunnan. 860-2,600 meters, mostly around 1,500-2,100 meters
The five genera mentioned in this paper are some repre- which is the area in which Chimonobambusa grows. The
habitat of Qiongzhuea is mostly as understory in ever-
sentatives. Further study on these bamboo is not only of
green broad leaf forests.
scientific significance but also of great economic value.
There remain many interesting problems to be solved. The presently known distribution shows the genus is en-
demic to China, falling into the central China endemic
Five genera of Bambusoldeae(Gratnineae) Recently discovery in Yunnan, China

Table 1: List of Chiimnocalamus species and their distribution

scientific Name Locality Elevation
C. delicatus Hsueh et Yi SE Yunnan 1,400-2,000 m
C. pallens Hsueh et Yi* SE Yunnan
C. fmbriatus Hsueh et Yi SW Yunnan
C. longiligulatus Hsueh et Yi S Yunnan
C montanus Hsueh et Yi SW Yunnan 1,740 m
C makuanensis Hsueh et Yi SE Yunnan 1,700-l 900 m
C longiusculus Hsueh et Yi SE Yunnan 1 , 6 5 0m
C. dumosus Hsue h et Yi
var. dumosus SE Yunnan 1,500 m
var. pygmaeus Hsueh et Yi SW Yunnan
C tortuosus Hsueh et Yi SW Yunnan, SE Tibet
C. ga/latlyi(Gamble) Hsueh et Yi Amherst, Burma 1 , 6 5 0m
C griffithianus (Munro) Hsueh et Yi NE India, Thaton, 1 , 2 0 0 - l,5 0 0m
Burma
C burmaensis (C.S. Chao et Renoize)

Hsueh et D.Z. Li, comb. nov. Burma
C. longispiculatus (C.S.Chao et Renoize)
Hsueh et D.Z. Li, comb. nov. Burma
*Karyotpofthespecies: 2n=4x=48=15m (SAT) + 8sm (SAT) + 1st

group according to the C. Y. Wu (1965, 1983) concept, unibranchlet. The two genera fall into the tribe Arudina-
while Chimonobambusa is of the Sino-Himalayan type. A rieae. The differences are: rhizome monopodial versus
recent study of cytology (F. Du & Hsueh) shows the amphipodial; lemma apex pubescent; palea also pubescent
karyotype of Qiongzhuea tumidinoda is and non-bifid; style single; fruit berry like in Ferrocala-
2n=4x=48=14m+8sm(SAT)+2st, which may be classified mus; in addition, Indocalamus is a small shrub like bam-
into 2C type while Chimonobambusa microflora may be boo while Ferrocafamus is arbor like, 5-7-9 meters tall.
recognized as 2B type. We have some reasons to propose
here that Qiongzhuea is a sister group (W. Hennig, 1965) A monotypic genus, Ferrocalamus is only known in Yun-
of Chimonobambusa, and it forms a monophyletic and nan Province’s southern area, at elevations of 900-1,200
more advanced group able to adapt itself to the colder meters. The accompanying species include Pandanus tec_
environments. torius, Callicarpa macrophylla, Begonia spp., Microste-
gium sp., and Angiopteris evecta. It is an endemic genus
Young shoots of Qiongzhuea are traditional vegetables in to China of tropical distribution. Cytological studies on
the distributional area, of these Q. tumidinoda is the best Yunnan bamboo (F. Du & Hsueh) show that Ferrocala-
one. Shoots of the species are exported to Japan and other mus has a karyotype of 2n=4x=48=1M+13m (SAT) + 4sm
countries. The species has been very famous for its culms + 5st + lT, falling into 2B type. This suggests that it has a
since the Han Dynasty, i.e. 1,200 years ago, and in ancient close relationship with Indocalamus. The symmetry of ka-
times reached Persia via India. We guess that there was a xyotype in Ferrocalamus is larger than that of Indocala-
“south silk way” from SW China to Persia in those an- mus. Evidence from cytology may support the genus as
cient times. It was through this mysterious route that com- more primitive than Indocalamus, its sister group which
modities like Qiong Zhu culms and Sichuan clothes were has a type of east Asia.
introduced into India, Central Asia, Europe and even
Africa. The culm of Ferrocalamus is hard. Hence the local resi-
dents, “Kuchong” call it “iron bamboo”. The Kuchong
Qiongzhuea tumidinoda is one of the two species of Bam- people have a long history of hunting they use the bamboo
busoideae in the List of Chinese Preserved Plants, which as an arrow. The culm is a good material for making
has been adopted by the China Natural Conservation chopsticks and making weaving sticks also.
Administration.
Leptocanna Chia et Fung, H.L. (1981)
Ferrocafamus Huesh et Keng, f. (1982) To date only one species has been named in the genus.
Both Ferrocalamus and Indocalamus have terminal pan- The species, Leptocanna chinensis, is a shrub like bamboo
icles; multi-floreted and pedicelled spikelets; florets with with a pendent upper part of its culm, sometimes the bam-
three stamens and three lodicules; large leaves and boo is a climber. Originally, L. chinensis was treated as a
16 Five genera of Bambusoideae (Gramineae) recently discovered in Yunnan, China

Table 2: Qiongzhuea species and their distribution

Scientific Name Province Elevation
Qiongzhuea tumidinoda Hsueh et Yi Sichuan, Yunnan 1,400-2,000 m
Q. macrophylla Hsueh et Yi
f: macrophylla Sichuan 1,430 m
f: leiboensis Hsueh et D.Z.Li Sichuan 1,430 m
Q. intermedia Hsueh et D. Z. Li Sichuan 1,250-l ,800 m
Q. communis Hsueh et Yi Sichuan, Guizhou
Q. puberula Hsueh et Yi Cuizhou
Q. luzhiensis Hsueh et Yi Guizhou
Q. rigidula Hsueh et Yi Sichuan 1,300-l,700 m
Q. opienensis Hsueh et Yi Sichuan.
species of Schizostachyum. After careful study on the type tains Natural Preserve by the Southwestern Forestry
material (flowering branchlets awith leaves, A. Henry College and the Forests Department of the Yunnan Pro-
10420, K) and field investigation in the type locality, vincial Government has discovered a fifth species in Yun-
Mengzi in Yunnan, Chia and H. L. Fung (198 1) created a nan. It is certainly a new species and also new
new generic name, Leptocanna for the species. Leptocan- geographical distribution of Monocladus to the Province.
na is an intermediate genus between Melocanna and Schi-
zostachyum in the phylogenetic process. It is different Monocladus is a shrub-like, large leaf, slender culmed and
from the former by its sympodial, caespitose culms, spike- unibranchleted bamboo. The vegetative parts look like In-
lets with one fertile floret and one sterile floret (lemma), docalamus but the rhizomes and inflorescences are quite
palea spice bicarinate, and from the latter by its, three lo- different. Monocladus belongs to the tribe Melocanneae
dicules and erect vagina blade. versus Arundinarieae on account of the sympodial rhi-
zome, iterauctant inflorescence and glabrous ovary.
It grows in the mountainous ever green broad leaf forest
and Leptocanna is endemic to Yunnan, China, in eleva- The geographical distribution of the genus shows Mono-
tions of 1,500-2,500 meters. The chromosone numbers of cladus is of a south China (incl. Hainan Is.) and Yunnan
L. chinensis are 2n=6x=72, the same as Melocanna bac- disjunction (Table 3). Another genus of bamboo of that
cifera (F. Du & Hsueh). It seems Leptocanna is more type is Ampelocalamus (S. L. Chen et al. 1981; Hsueh &
primitive than Schizostachyum; both genera have a tropi- D. Z. Li, 1987). It is very interesting that the two genera
cal floristics origin. are tropical climbers.
The name, Leptocanna, Lepto (from Greek) thin, canna The Yunnan counterpart species are not grown in the
(also from Greek), cane, alludes to the bamboo with its southern part of the Province but in the valleys of Salween
thin culm wall, as thin as 2-3 mm. The culm is a very and Yang-tze rivers where it is much warmer due to the
good material for weaving. The native residents in SE foehn wind or chinook effect. In geological history Hainan
Yunnan also use it for making “Gao-Sheng”, a kind of na- island was separated from mainland China early, before
tive rocket used in celebration festivals. the separation of the Taiwan islands. This indicates the
two genera are very old bamboo to say the least.
Monocladus Chia, H. L; Fung etYang, The leaves of Monocfadus are one of the best materials for
Y.L. (1988) making Zhong Zhi, a popular food in the traditional Chi-
The genus was published in 1988 with four original spe- nese Dragon Boat Festival (fifth of the fifth lunar month).
cies. A recent expedition to the Gaoligong Shan Moun- It is also good for making rain proof hats,
Table 3: Geographical distribution of Monocladus
S pecies Province Elevation

Monocladus levigatus Chia et al. Hainan 250-700 m
M. saxatilis chia et a/ Guangdong, Guangxi 400-750 m
M.amplecaulis Chia et al. Guangxi 300-500 m
M. solidus (C.D.Chu et C.S.Chao) Chia Cuangxi
M. sp. nov. ined Yunnan 1,200 m
Five genera of Bambusoideae (Gramineae) recently discovered in Yunnan, China 17

Ochlandra (Bamboo Reed) a Vanishing Asset of

Forests in Kerala - South India
S. Chand Basha*
clearing was made there may have been only a few chlumps
Introduction of it growing in the forests of Travancore. Bourdillon
(1892) could see the reed (0. travancorica) forming “the
Reed (Ochlandra) forms one of the most important source
undergrowth of forests over immense areas in different
of long flbre raw material to the paper and pulp industry.
parts of the country and near the crest of hills it often oc-
It is also very important as it provides much income to the cupied the whole of the ground, covering the slopes with
Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Castes and other poor tradi- dense and almost impenetrable thickets”.
tional reed workers who make mats, baskets and other ar-
ticles of local use. Although the reed raw material plays Ochlandra scriptoria (Dennst) CEC Fischer (0. rheedii)
an important role in the economy of the State, especially is found along the stream banks in the lower elevations.
among the underprivileged sections of the Society, the re- This is a small and thin reed widely distributed in the
source is being exploited in a ruthless and unscientific Southern Kerala and in smaller proportions in the North-
manner. em part.
The present paper attempts to throw light on the techno- Now the reed areas have considerably dwindled in extent
ecological and socio-economic aspects of this valuable raw and are remaining as discontinuous patches with poor
material in the forests of Kerala. growth.
Ochlandra beddomeii Gamble is another species found

Distribution growing in large stretches in the Silent Valley evergreen
Ochlandra is widely distributed in the forests of Kerala forests where the soil tends to be marshy due to impeded
except in grass lands and dry deciduous forests situated in drainage and very high rainfall (Ayyar 1935, Basha
the leeward side of the Western Ghats. The man-made fo- 1987). This situation almost leads to the absence of regen-
rests and high level subtropical and temperate forests also eration of tree species due to thick and impenetrable
lack reed growth. There are seven species and one variety growth of reeds and also due to water logging.
belonging to this genus in Kerala. The widely distributed
and common species, which are found growing in abun- Very localised distribution is found in the case of Ochlan-
dance, are Ochlandra travancorica, 0. travancorica (var) dra ebracteata Raizada & Chatterjee, 0. setigera Gamble
hirsuta and 0. scriptoria (Figure 1). Ochlandra travan- and 0. wightii Fischer (Figure 2). 0. ebracteata is found
corica Benth ex Gamble is a big size reed occurring wide- localised in Thiruvananthapuram forest areas and 0.
ly as an undergrowth in the low level evergreen and wightii has a very restricted distribution in Achencoil and
semievergreen forests. Pure patches which grow as im- Thenmala. 0. setigera Gamble is a species not reported
penetrable thickets are also found along the sides of rivers form other places except Nilambur. 0. travancorica var.
and streams where other tree species are not allowed to hirsuta is found in forest areas of Thenmala, Ranni, Kon-
come up. This species is more abundant in South Kerala, ni, Achencoil and Thiruvananthapuram. Another species
especially, in the forests of Thiruvananthapuram, Then- was recently identified as 0. sivagiriyana Camus is lo-
mala, Ranni, Konni etc. It is also found growing as a pio- cated only at Sholayar. (Muktesh Kumar, 1990).
neer species in abandoned cultivated lands. Extensive Of all the reed species, only 0. travancorica, 0. tra-
areas were brought under shifting cultivation by the tribals vancorica (var) hirsuta and 0. scriptoria are of high in-
of Travancore in the last and the early present century and dustrial value. The other species have only local use and
the lands abandoned by them often becomes covered with the quantity available is very small.
thickets of this reed (0. travancorica), though before
Ecological status of reed forests Secondary formations

Two types of reed forests occur in Kerala viz., primary ;econdaxy formations have originated in areas where
and secondary. hifting cultivation was practiced by tribals, a practice in
rogue from very olden days. These formations are avail-
able only in the southern parts of Kerala. According to
Primary formations Bourdillon (1892) “the system of hill-cultivation is most
The reed vegetation retains its stability unless drastically wasteful and has destroyed immense areas of valuable for-
disturbed by anthropogenic factors. The permanency of est land in the past, while its continuance in the present
growth is brought about by either impeded drainage or prevents the growth of good timber. The land selected in
high rainfall. In these conditions the reeds may grow as a the first instance for clearing and cultivation has always,
pure crop or as undergrowth in evergreen forests where been covered by heavy moist forests.....its place being tak-
canopy is either closed or the trees grow as standards in en by dense thickets of reeds”. The species so found are
the ‘sea’ of reeds. These variants are described below: Ochlandra travancorica, 0. scriptoria and rarely 0. bed-
domeii. This condition will lead to evergreen or semiever-
Pure reed formations without any sort of either under-
green forests with an undergrowth of Ochlandra (Pascal,
growth or overgrowth occur in certain isolated localities
1988). Such forests were considered as “Open moist fo-
like Pooyamkutty, Gooderical etc. They are stable under
rests" by Velu Pillai (1919). If further biotic interference
the given conditions and are therefore climax formations.
is prevented the status will be maintained as the growth is
The stability is perpetuated due to the peculiar nature of
conditioned by poor and ill drained soil.
periodic flowering and copious regeneration in the same
locality, which is highly moist. If the soil conditions are pascal (1988) considered the secondary formations of
identical the growth gradually spreads to the adjacent lo- reeds as Ochlandra brakes formed due to disturbance
calities but keeps continuity with the existing formation. caused in the forest by man. He relates the origin of reed
These are to be considered as edaphic climax formations Drakes to two reasons. Some have an edaphic origin local-
brought about by the peculiar moisture conditions. ised near water courses with poorly drained soil and hence
constitute a climax facies rather than a degradational
Reed formations occur naturally in association with tree stage; others result from over exploitation and clearfelling
species especially in the evergreen forests where the tellu-
of the primary forest.
ric conditions are very favourable. Such patches are found
growing in most parts of the Southern Kerala and in the Abandoning cardamom cultivation in the past has been
Silent Valley National Park. Here too, two types of facies regarded by Pascal (1988) as one of the most important
can be found. causes for the appearance of reed brakes. Once the
cultivation is stopped, the undergrowth is generally in-
There are large stretches of reeds where evergreen trees vaded by reeds which prevent all other types of regenera-
like Calophyllum elatum, Bischofia javanica, Poeciloneu- tion. The invasion of fire during the dry season gradually
ron indicum etc. grow as scattered standards. Ayyar
enlarges the opening leading to occupation of the whole
(1935) considered such formations as Reed - Calophyllum
areas by reeds forming pure reed brakes. Such formations
and Reed-Poeciloneuron associations. Basha (1977) con-
will stabilize so long as heavy biotic pressure is kept away.
cluded from detailed surveys that these associations were
The regeneration of the isolated arborescent heliophytes,
due to local preponderance or due to the gregarious habit
which grow as standards over the mass of reeds, is highly
of certain species, as well as the fundamental role of
impeded by the thick and impenetrable growth of reeds.
edaphic factors and altitudinal variations. These are re-
garded as edaphic facies by Pascal (1988). The stability is Fire, a devastating agent in the forests, caused by high an-
maintained by the asphyxiating condition preventing the thropic pressure, plays a very important role in changing
tree regeneration to come up and also by high moisture the ecology of these reed forests. Due to the high combus-
conditions which prevent the entry of fire into the area. tible tendency the reed forest bums like crackers and the
The edaphic climax nature is so fragile that disturbance by overground portion is destroyed. The rhizome which re-
fire, if any, may cause considerable change to the mains underground puts forth new growth to replace the
constitution. lost parts. Fire also destroys trees and other vegetation
leading to heavy opening of the canopy where the reeds
Vast stretches of reeds in the medium elevation areas
spread very fast leading to the formation of Ochlandra
grow as understorey in the evergreen forests which have
brakes which are often stable (Pascal, 1988). When the
almost a closed canopy. The growth is not thick enough to brake is composed of 0. travancorica, the few seedings of
prevent the regeneration of trees. The reed growth is high=
heliophytes growing in their shade have to wait for a long
ly shade tolerant. As long as poor drainage conditions are
time before getting a chance to grow (Adriel, 1966). This
maintained under the evergreen canopy, the formation is
can be regarded as a subtype which is conditioned with
stable and can be regarded as special facies (Pascal,
biotic influences (Iyppu, 1960).
1988).
Repeated yearly working of the reed areas without due re-
gard to the closure season from June to September de-
pletes the reed forests. If by chance there is any fire during
Ochlandra (Bamboo Reed) a Vanishing Asset of Forests in Kerala -South India 19

the dry season the set back caused to this type of forest can clandestine collection, collection for house hold purposes,
be very drastic leading to a high degree of degradation. is approximately estimated to be 10,000 t. As against the
The wound takes a very long time to heal though the iden- total requirement of 304,000 t for the industries and the
tity of the reed forest will be kept up due to its peculiar corporation (except direct collection), the actual collection
gregarious nature and capability of the rhizome to survive always remained much less as can be seen from Table 1.
the fire attack. Repeated clearfellings and fires followed
by anthropic pressure (Pascal, 1988) in extreme cases not Data furnished in the above table clearly reveal that in
only alters the structure of the reed formation but also spite of the intensive collection made by different agen-
leads to the invasion of grasses leading to the establish- cies, it is difficult to attain even 50% of the requirement.
ment of grasslands or savanna. In most cases the change This shows that the reed resource is not rich enough to
is irreversible due to the complete destruction of the rhi- yield 304,000 t of reeds per annum not to speak of
zomes and the difficulty for heavy seeds to reach isolated 350,000 t as assessed by the Department. A detailed sur-
places from the flowering localities. Further, flowering is vey embodying modem techniques is absolutely necessary
only a periodic phenomenon as the species is monocrapic. to arrive at a clear picture of the actual availability of reed
resource.
Growing stock Though there is a shortfall in the supply for industries,

there will not be much deficit for the private enterpreneurs
The exact growing stock of reeds in the State has still not
and other categories of people whose requirement, all put
been estimated. As per a preinvestment survey report of
together, may be around 10,000 t per annum as these
1968, there were about 10,000 km2 of reed forests with an
annual availability of 500,000 t of air dry reeds (Asari, beneficiaries are highly dispersed throughout the State
and stay near forest areas. Working of reeds is concen-
1978). This was found to be a wrong assessment as the to-
trated in the Southern and Central districts (from
tal area under forest was only 9,400 km2 during 1973 and
Thiruvananthapuram to Thrissur) and there is no indus-
this included plantations, high elevation forests, dry fo-
rests and grasslands which do not support reed growth. trial extraction from the erstwhile Malabar districts due to
low availability. Though Silent Valley contains a large
Subsequently the Forest Resources Survey conducted by chunk of reed areas, extraction is not possible due to the
Chandrasekharan (1973) estimated the reed areas as 185 area falling in the National Park. In other regions the reed
km2, with a growing stock of 4,560,OOO t. The allowable extraction is limited to house hold purposes and to a very
annual cut was prescribed as 2.45 % of the growing stock small extent by the private enterpreneurs for local market.
ie. 112,000 t (air dry) (Chandrasekharan, 1973).
From what has been stated above it becomes clear that
On the basis of yet another survey, the reed areas were there is a wide gap between the demand and the supply. It
reassessed as 869 km2 (Asari, 1978). Detailed survey was is expected that the supply will be further reduced in fu-
conducted in the reed catchments earmarked for Kerala ture due to the various factors mentioned later causing
News Print Factory by Asari in 1977-78. This survey re- degradatibn of the reed forests. Well planned research
vealed 717 km* falling under three categories, viz. scat- aimed at increasing the productivity and careful scientific
tered distribution - 351.45 km’, dense occurrence - working are the only answers. Artificial regeneration can
325.875 km’ and pure reed areas - 39.6 km’. The yield es- be tried to a smaller extent as the land availability for ex-
timated from the above was 189,000 t (green) per annum. panding this species, demanding very specific ecological
Taking into consideration all the previous surveys and the conditions, is very less.
present field conditions the Department of Forests as-
sessed the availability of reeds in Kerala as 350,000 t per
annum (air dry).
Utilization of reeds
Reeds are consumed by the two major sectors viz., the
At this point it is also to be mentioned that the total forest traditional cottage industry sector which was in existence
area lost between 1940 to 1970 amounts to 3,450 km’ for centuries and the modem industrial sector. While the
(Chandrasekharan, 1973). Subsequent rough estimates former is highly labour intensive requiring very less quan-
collected by the Hindustan News Print Ltd. reveal that tity of raw material, the latter is just the opposite with very
from 1970 to 1990 the total reed area lost permanently less employment potential but having large scale raw ma-
was 55 km’. About 50 km2 was found to be degraded due terial consumption.
to poor regeneration as a result of gregarious flowering in
1980’s (in Malayattoor and Vazhachal Divisions). About Traditional sector
100 km2 area fell within the Wildlife Sanctuaries and Na-
tional Parks, with the result the extraction of green reeds The State Planning Board identified this sector as “tradi-
had to be stopped in order to conserve fodder for wild ele tional industry” (Govt. of Kerala, 1983) which can aptly
phants which otherwise very often cause crop damages. be called “traditional cottage industry” as the manufactur-
ing takes place exclusively in the houses of those engaged
The present total requirement for the large scale industries in it. The traditional sector uses reeds for making a variety
is 274,000 t while the requirement for the traditional sec- of products. The whole reeds are used for house hold pur-
tor under the Bamboo Corporation is 30,000 t per year. poses like putting up reepers for huts and cattle sheds,
The direct use for traditional workers near forest areas, fencing, making long brush handles, country fishing rods
20 Ochlandra (Bamboo Read) a Vanishing Asset of Forests in South India

etc. Except in the case of brush handles, the producer is Co-operative socleties
not financially benefitted as the use is for his own house
The poor reed mat weavers are an unorganised section of
hold purposes. The brush made of coconut husk fibre is
people who were reeling under the ruthless exploitation of
attached to one end of the reed, which serves as a long
the big merchants who monopolised extraction and supply
handle, and is sold in the market.
of reeds to the weavers and also the purchase of mats from
The major purpose for which reeds are used is for man- the weavers. Thus, there was a time when they were virtu-
ufacturing baskets and mats. In olden days these were for ally sandwiched between the big reed suppliers on the one
self consumption and to some extent meeting the local de- side and the giant mat tradesmen on the other. In reality,
mand. Gradually there was demand for mats at trading the weaver community always remained poor. In order to
centres like Bombay. The export of mats from Kerala is enhance the income of the weaker section of the mat
more than a century old (Bourdillon, 1892). There was weaving people, the Government constituted co-operative
war demand for mats and the traditional mat making in- societies which channelise the marketing of products. The
dustry flourished well with the intermediaries getting very reed supply has been undertaken by the Bamboo Corpora-
high profits due to purchase of mats from the poor weav- tion for the registered members of the Society. There are
ers at a cheap price and around certain centres like about 60 co-operative societies with 100 members in each
Kalady, Angamaly etc., which could draw raw material as beneficiaries.
easily from the adjacent reed forests through water Kerala State Bamboo Curporotion ltd.
transport.
As per the recommendations of the Bamboo Industry En-
The following institutions are involved in the traditional quiry Committee constituted by the Govt. of Kerala in
sector: 1969, the Kerala State Bamboo Corporation came into be-
ing on the of 13th of March, 197 1. The main objective
Households
was to reduce the “long chain of intermediaries between
The traditional workers manufacture mats and baskets and the primary producer and the final consumer’
sell the same in local markets. Such items are used for dif- (Travancore-Cochin Govt., 1951) and thus to enhance the
ferent purposes eg. mats for drying grains and other food income level of the traditional workers. To start with, the
materials, for making internal partitions in the houses, for Corporation took up only purchase of mats from the weav-
use as house curtains, for making ceilings for rooms and ers and sold the same in different markets. The weavers
so on. On a large scale, mats are used as dunnage material were ensured reasonable price to their products.
in warehouses (at present gradually being replaced by
polyethylene sheets). Bamboo mats were largely used dur- In the second stage the Corporation entered into the reed
ing the World War periods for putting up temporary tents extraction field in order to free the traditional workers
in the war front (Ajit Kumar, 1985) from the exploitative hold of the merchants dealing with
the extraction and supply of reeds. With this, both extrac-
The demand dwindled after the Second World War and tion and supply became the monopoly operation of the
subsequently there was a slump in the market, After 1958, Corporation, In the initial stages the Corporation had to
a large number of sugar factories, especially in Central In- pay the rate fixed by the Forest Department. In the year
dia used bamboo mats for refining brown sugar into white 1983 the Government waived the payment in order to pro-
sugar (Ajit Kumar, 1985). Mats are also used for making mote the traditional industry and also to give more bene-
bamboo plywood. fits to the poorer sections of the society. Now the
Corporation obtains reeds free from Government forests.
The baskets made in the traditional sector is of use in the It is an anomaly that while the Bamboo Corporation is
house holds for storing grains and jaggery, for collecting getting the reeds free for supply to their registered work-
fruits, vegetables, betel leaves, as waste paper baskets etc. ers, the poor people who directly collect reeds for their
Apart from the above some handicraft items and dining household industries pay a price to the Department, sim-
table mats etc., are also made but in smaller quantities. ply because the Corporation cannot reach them and that
Private enterpreneurs they are isolated.
When there was a high demand for the bamboo mats, for Use of mats for making bamboo boards is a recent attempt
war purposes and for use in sugar industries the sector at- started after the establishment of a factory under the Kera-
tracted a lot of people including the forward communities, la State Bamboo Corporation. Two bamboo mats are
who started learning the technique from the Sambavas or pressed by putting a wooden veneer in between using phe-
Parayas, the original weavers belonging to Scheduled nolic resin and the bamboo plywood formed is of 3-4 mm
Castes and Tribes. Even now the other forward communi- thick, very strong, durable and decorative. This is used for
ties adhere to mat weaving and consider this as their voca- making furniture, doors, room partitioning, light ceiling
tion for earning daily bread. In certain localities the poor material and wall panelling. Various eye catching designs
Scheduled Castes and Tribes go to the forest and collect are made while weaving the mats which when made into
reeds by paying a nominal price to the Forest Department bamboo boards are very attractive.
and make products. These are directly marketed by them.
The Corporation employs about 2,500 reed cutters who
were traditionally attending to this sort of work (KSBC,
Ochlandra (Bamboo Reed) a Vanishing Asset of Forests in Kerala -South India

1991). These cutters are well trained in selecting and ex- closed in 1986 due to labour strike and is disfunctioning
tracting only .those reed culms suitable for manufacturing at present.
products. Reeds are supplied to the traditional industry in
the following ways: The Gwalior Rayons Ltd., a rayon pulp manufacturing
unit started in 1962 also took up reed as an additional raw
a) To the bulk production centres like Angamali, material due to dearth in the availability of bamboo which
Kalady etc., which are the catchment area of the had flowered gregariously during 1960’s. Though not in
Corporation for procuring mats, the reeds are sup- arge quantities, the industry used reeds from 1976 to
plied to the registered weavers without realising any 1985. By this time the allottment of reeds to this industry
money. The products are taken back by paying rea- was stopped as they were given alternative raw materials
sonable wages to the weavers. ike eucalypt.
b) To places, where the Co-operative societies are avail- The Hindustan Newsprint Ltd., was commissioned in
able, the reeds are supplied by the Corporation to the 1979. This Industry was allotted reeds to the tune of
registered members of the society through the society 189,000 t per annum. With the appearance of this Indus-
on realisation of actual collection and transport try which happened to be the major consumer of reeds
charges. The finished products are marketed through many of the inaccessible reed areas were opened up to
the same societies. meet the increasing requirement. The Company entrusts
c) To other areas where the above arrangements are not the extraction work to the private contractors employing
available the Corporation gives reeds to the regis- about 5,000 cutters who virtually swarm the area and al-
tered weavers on realisation of collection and trans- most clear fell the clumps and collect all reeds except the
port charges. The goods are sold by the weavers as reeds which are less than one year old leading to the
theyplease. depletion of the resource.
To start with the allottment to the Kerala State Bamboo
Corporation was 15,000 t per annum (1977-78) which was Factors causing degradation of
increased to 25,000 t and in 88-89 the quantity was fur-
ther increased to 30,000 t against their requirement of
the reed forests
36,000 t. In the past, the pressure on reed forests was nominal. The
tribals and other people who depended on forests for their
Thus it can be seen that the State has made special ar- livelihood consumed reeds for constructing huts and mak-
rangements like establishment of Co-operative societies ing baskets or mats for their own use. The population be-
and Kerala State Bamboo Corporation to save the eco- ing low the pressure on forests was also less. The
nomically backward mat weaving community by promot- collection to meet specific requirements was of a selective
ing this highly labour intensive traditional sector. type. Gradually more and more people started using the
products made from reed raw material. This resulted in
Industrial sector slightly larger scale production of goods to satisfy the
needs of the people. During the World War II a new use
As an industrial raw material reed was used for manufac- was found out for the mats which were produced in large
turing pulp in Kerala from 1890 when the Punalur Paper numbers. Gradually various other uses for reeds like mak-
Mills was established. The requirement of reeds at that ing decorative bambooply boards were developed. With
time was only 750 t per year. The working of the reed the result large number of people, not only the traditional
areas by the Industry was highly unscientific, without but also others who learnt the craft, entered the field. This
even giving due consideration to the rotation period, with has resulted in large scale collection from forests. Now
the result the areas were worked successively year after there are about 15,000 families engaged in the traditional
year leading to the depletion of stock. The field condition industry. The collection of raw material from the reed
of the areas allotted to the mills from Thiruvananthapu- bearing areas is restricted more to accessible to settlement
ram, Punalur and Thenmala showed that no extraction areas with the result deterioration of the resource is taking
was possible for many years as the damage was beyond replace and is bound to aggravate. With a view to help the
pair. Therefore, reed extraction for this industry was traditional sector, Kerala State Bamboo Corporation was
shifted to other reed areas of Adimali and Pooyamkutty. established by the Government in 1971. The original idea
The capacity of the industry was increased to 33,000 t in was to purchase the reed products, especially mats, from
1972 and further to 50,000 t per annum in 1975 the individuals and societies and market the same. Gradu-
(Mammen Chundamannil, 1990). There was a further in- ally in 1977 the Corporation entered the reed collection
crease of quantity to the Mills to the tune of 85,000 t in field and started collection engaging large number of
1982 and by this time other Industrial units like Gwalior traditional and other reed cutters. The labour force swarm
Rayons (in 1962), Kerala State Bamboo Corporation (in the reed forest and in the greed to collect more numbers of
1971) and Hindustan Newsprint Ltd (in 1979) started reeds in minimum time all the mature reeds are cut from
functioning. These industries also required recd. Thoug the clumps which are nearer the loading points in order to
the allottment was made, the Company could not extrac avoid long distance dragging or headload transport. Thus
the quantity due to low availability. The Mill had to be the system of collection of reeds changed from selective
felling to clear felling of all mature reeds. This sort of
22 Ochlandra (Bamboo Reed) a Vanishing Asset of Forests in Kerala - South india

concentrated collection always from the easily approach- out of the cut reeds from thick and tangled clumps, the
able areas depleted, and will further deplete the resources, fall of the cut culms etc. cause the young new growing
at a faster speed. clums to break. Due to this the establishment of regenera-
tion is hampered and the resource becomes highly
The requirement of the traditional cottage industry sector depleted.
being very low compared to that of the industries, the
depletion or destruction was not so serious. With the es- Apart from the operational problems mentioned above
tablishment of the paper pulp and rayon mills which there are also other factors which cause destruction to reed
mainly depend upon the reeds as a major component of forests. These forests are mostly located in areas along the
long flbre pulp, large scale collection of reeds started from banks of streams, rivers, and other water courses and/or in
the reed forests which are worked under a three year rota- the moist localities. Such areas are fertile and are pre-
tion. Though large areas are allotted to these industries, ferred by cultivators, encroachers etc. who clear the land
collections are invariably restricted to the areas nearest to for cultivation purposes. As the cultivation is permanent,
the road centres. Moreover, the large number of cutters the reed forests of such localities are lost for ever. In
(even with families) enter into the forests and cut reeds in Kerala, where there are large extents of forest areas con-
a very haphazard manner. The labourer gets the wages for taining reeds and during the War, there was considerable
the weight of reeds collected and hence he does not bother food shortage and, in order to produce more food grain,
to leave out the reeds of more than one year age in order the moist and swampy areas inside the forests were leased
to get more quantity from one clump. Further the younger out under the ‘Grow More Food Programme ' The culti-
aged reeds give more weight as they contain more water. vators cleared the areas which constituted mainly reed
This sort of clearfelling, totally disregarding the felling growth. Gradually the adjoining areas which were outside
rules, causes more destruction to the resource base. their lease holds and which contained mostly reeds, were
also encroached upon and cultivated. Since the lease holds
One more aspect worth mentioning is that there is a big and encroachments were regularised periodically the cul-
difference in the working of reeds by the traditional and tivation became permanent and the chances of reversal of
the modem sector. While the former selectively fell and reed forests were permanently lost. Had the lease been re-
sometimes clearfell all the mature reeds to get proper voked after the stipulated period and the encroachments
strength in their products, the latter agency fells or clear- evicted, the areas would have reverted to reed growth.
fells all the reeds down to one year old as these would
yield pulp and at the same time give more weight to the In this connection it is to be mentioned that the shifting
cutter who gets money for collection on weighment basis. cultivation or ‘Hill cultivation’ as called by Bourdillon,
Of the two sectors, the traditional sector is less harmful damage to the reeds was only during the duration of the
than the other. In case the agencies are allotted separate cultivation which was invariably for one or two years. The
areas for working, the traditional sector will suffer due to cultivation by tribals being not so intensive; soil working
want of materials owing to successive over exploitation remained only superficial. The rhizomes remained under
and subsequent depletion of the reed resource base. the soil and the regeneration was only periodically re-
moved. This cultivation did more good than harm to reeds
Another important aspect is that there is an overlapping as the reeds grew vigorously in these areas on abandoning
system of working of reeds in the same area by both agen- the cultivation and the whole area was covered with reeds
cies. The modus operandi is that the traditional sector in a short span of time. The reeds had conductive condi-
works the area first as they require reeds of larger-size and tions for luxurient growth as the tree cover over the reeds
is followed by the industrial sector which takes out all had been removed by the tribals while clearing the area
reed culms which are capable of yielding pulp. In this sys- for cultivation. Therefore, shifting cultivation in most of
tem of working, the two agencies approach the same the areas especially in the southern parts of the state
clump at different times of the same year causing more helped the expansion of the reed forests, but at the ex-
damage. pense of the luxurient evergreen and semievergreen
Adding insult to injury the traditional sector is allowed to forests.
work during the growing season which is called as ‘clo- Labour intensive ventures like formation of commercial
sure period’ and which starts from June i.e., during the plantations of rubber, oil palm, cardamom etc., required
onset of south-west monsoon rains to September when the the clearance of large extent of fertile lands which invari-
south-west monsoon starts receeding. This concession i.e., ably included good reed bearingareas. This process was
working of reeds during closure season is allowed only to irreversible and the reed areas were permanently lost.
the traditional sector. This is in order to provide continu- Construction of hydroelectric and irrigation projects de-
ous and round the year employment to the reed cutters and stroyed the most productive reed forests which were si-
mat and basket weavers. The working of the forests during tuated on either sides of water courses and which were
this season is very harmful and the resource starts deplet- submerged and died out. Examples of such submergence
ing at a tremendous speed. The reason being that the new can be seen in the reservoir areas of Sabarigiri, Sholayar,
culms sprouting during the rainy season are immature,
Idamalayar projects, etc. In this process very highly pro-
thin and brittle. These culms break at the slightest touch
ductive areas were permanently lost.
and further growth is arrested. While working the reeds
during the closure period, the cutting operation, dragging
Another highly destructive agency is fire. Fire sweeps the centres in order to collect more reeds in a cost effective
forest during the dry season when the floor is dry. In the manner.
thick reed brake where there is practically no tree vegeta-
tion or a few scattered trees, the fire damage is very low as Closure season is the period during which the area is
the land is highly moist and there is less combustible dry closed for reed working as the reeds start growing new
material. But in other forest areas where the reeds grow as culms. This is in short the culm formation season. This
undergrowth the forest floor will contain dry leaf litter corresponds to the main rainy season. The close season in
and branches etc., which burn causing two types of dam- Kerala is from June to September. The emerging new
ages. Fire destroys the culms and burns the above ground culms being highly tender and brittle, they break at the
portion completely, as the reeds are combustible. The ex- slightest shock. Therefore reed working is prohibited dur-
cessive heat generated over the soil destroys the tender ing this season as the extraction will lead to destruction of
growing ends of the rhizomes. The left over leaves, new culms.
branches, top ends etc., of the collected reeds dry during
There was no observance of the closed season in the past
summer and add much combustible material. In such with the result there was a high depletion of reed re-
localities the damage is high. Regular annual fires result sources. The closure season was partly introduced some-
in the production of slender and small reeds affecting the where in 1958. The industrial sector observed this except
quality of the reed resource.
in a few rare and exceptional cases where special sanction
Periodic flowering of this monocarpic species completely was issued for extraction during the closed season, Now
wipes out the reed growth. But the fall of seed brings copi- this being followed in the case of extraction by the paper
ous regeneration and sometimes a denser growth. In this and pulp industries. In the case of Kerala State Bamboo
way the death of original reed growth due to flowering Corporation there is a relaxation as the reeds go to the
helps to bring out a good reed brake. The dead clumps are cottage industry through out the year. If extraction is
highly inflammable and at the slightest entry of fire, the stopped, it is stated that the poor traditional cutters and
young regeneration is completely lost causing in many weavers will suffer due to break in work availability.
cases irreversible change to vegetation. Such areas may The non insistance of closure season on human consider-
turn to grasslands and become unproductive. ation has already done/or is doing considerable damage to
Our observations at Pooyamkutty revealed that after gre- the resource, and successive years of extraction in the
garious flowering during 1985-86, the new growth was areas is bound to deplete the stock.
wiped out by fire and large gaps were created. These gaps
were colonised by grass and are subsequently being taken Present predicament
over by a noxious weed. Growth of this weed, Mikania mi-
crantha HB.K. in the reed areas, affects reeds. The climb- The demand for reed is very high to the amount of
304,000 t per year. The availability is very low belong of
er spreads its leaves over the reed growth completely
50% of the requirement. Resource depletion, due to over
covering the top thereby preventing the entry of light.
This causes poor growth of reeds and culms become thin exploitation and many other degrade factors, has started
and unhealthy and the spread of rhizome is hampered. affecting the yield. The yield will almost remain steady at
the present level for a few more years as large extent of
The weed is fast spreading in Vazhachal, Idamalayar and
Pooyamkutty areas. This is going to affect the yield of previously unharvested areas are being tapped. Once this
reeds in the near future. is exhausted, the yield will fall gradually.
Clandestine collection of reeds by smugglers, for trade;

from certain localities, the concentrated working of the
Research priorities
reeds by villagers for their bonafide purposes like hut In order to keep up the yield at least to the present level it
building, cattleshed construction, fencing and so on from is necessary to adopt area specific silvicultural practices.
areas adjoining to the villages cause degradation of reed The knowledge of the silvicultural and ecological require-
resources. In certain localities the villagers cut and re- ments of reeds is scarce and detailed investigations are
move the reeds in order to ward off elephants as the same necessary on following the aspects:
are attracted to reeds. This is to protect themselves from a. Study of ecological and silvicultural requirements of
crop raiding. Much damage is also caused by the destruc- different reed species especially the species exploited
tive mode of collection followed by the interstate smug- on a large scale.
glers who almost clear fell the reed clumps. This is a
common sight at Achencoil areas. b . Perfecting the artificial regeneration technique to suit
the species and the locality.
Due to scarce food availability and habitat destruction the c . Research to increase the productivity of reeds by ap-
elephant herds over utilize certain reed areas thereby de- plication of fertilizers.
pleting the resource. The possibility of recouping is lost as
the animals regularly visit such areas. Formation of ex- d. Management strategies for augmenting poor reed
traction roads through the reed forests destroy the reed re- areas.
source as the roads criss-cross the major reed growing
24 Ochlandra (Bamboo Reed) a Vanishing Asset of Forests in Kerala - South India

e. Perfecting the nursery technique by use of Anonymous, 1988. (mimeo) Administrative report of the
culm/branch cuttings as seed availability is highly er- Forest Dept. for the years 1987-88 Kerala Forest Dept.,
Trivandrum, India.
ratic as the species being monocarpic.
Asari, Surendran P.K. 1978. Industry Oriented Manage-
f. Developing proper storage technique for seeds so that ment Plan for Reeds. 1977-78 to 1991-92. Kerala Forest
seeds can be stored when the reed areas flower and Department.
fruit gregariously. Ayyar, T.V.V. 1935. A working plan for the Ghat forests of
g. Study on the control or even removal of pernicious ex- Palghat Divison 1933-34 to 1942-43. Government of
Madras.
otic weeds which affect the growth of reeds.
Basha, Chand, S. 1977. Revised Working Plan for Palghat
h . Study on how to effectively and scientifically regulate Forest Division (Third Revision) 1975-76 to 1984-85, Vol.
collection. I, Government of Kerala 282 p.
i. Study on storage of reeds without affecting the quality Basha, Chand, S. 1987. Studies on the ecology of ever-
so that such stored reeds can be used during the green forests of Kerala with special reference to Attappady
and Silent Valley. Ph.D Thesis, Kerala University, 232 p.
closed season thereby giving rest to reed areas during
Bourdillon, T.F. 1892. Report on the forests of Travancore-
the growing season. Govt. press, Trivandrum.
j Utilization of lops, tops, leaves etc. in the industries. Chandrasekharan, C. 1973. Forest Resources of Kerala. A
This will add more raw material and will help to re- quantitative assessment, Kerala Forest Department,
move the combustible materials from the field. Trivandrum, India.
k . Finding alternative raw material for the pulp indus- Govt. of Kerala. 1983. Economic Review 1982. State Plan-
tries to provide for long fibre pulp, at least for partial ning Board, Trivandrum.
replacement, if not full. lyppu, A.I. 1960 The Silviculture and Management of
Evergreen Forests in Kerala. Proceedings of the All India
Till the results of research programmes are available it is Tropical Moist Evergreen Forest Study tour and Sympo-
better to enforce the following safeguards in the extraction sium. March-April 1960. Forest Research Institute, Dehra
of reeds: Dun.
KSBC. 1991. Kerala State Bamboo Corporation. Personal
a . Adherence of felling rules and felling cycle. Communication.
b. Removal of combustible dry lops and tops from the Mammen Chundamannil. 1990. Bamboo Current Re-
base of the clumps. search Proceedings of the International Bamboo Work-
shop, Nov. 14-18, 1988, Cochin. India. Published by KFRI,
c . Fire watching during the drought season. Peechi, India and IDRC, Canada.
d . Stopping working a single area by different Agencies Muktesh Kumar, M. 1990. Reed Bamboo (Ochlandra) in
in the same year. Kerala: Distribution and Management. In: Bamboo Current
Research, KFRI and IDRC, pp. 39-43.
e. Prevention of operation in areas where flowering is
Nair, C.T.S. 1986. Bamboo based industry in Kerala State,
noticed till the seeds are completely shed. India. Appropriate Forest Industries, FAO Forestry Paper
f. Removal of dried reeds after seed shedding before the 68, p. 99-109.
fire season. Nair, C.T.S. and Muraleedharan, P.K. 1983. Rural institu-
tions for development of appropriate forestry enterprises:
A case study of reed industry in Kerala State, India, KFRI
References Research Report 18, KFRI Peechi, India.
Adriel, D. 1966. Working Plan for the Trivandrum Forest
Pascal, J.P. 1988. Wet Evergreen Forests of the Western
Division. 1964-65 to 1973-74. Kerala Forest Department. Ghats of India, Institute Francais, Pondicherry. 345 p.
Ajit Kumar, M. 1985. The impact of the working of the Travancore-Cochin Government. 1951. Forest wealth of
Kerala State Bamboo Corporation in the development of Kerala. Report of the Committee headed by Nanukuttan
the Bamboo Industry in Kerala, Ph.D. Thesis, University of
Nair.
Cochin.
Velupillai, M. 1919. Working Plan Report of the Malayat-
toor Working Circle. Travancore Government.
Ochlandra (Bamboo Reed) a Vanishing Asset of Forests in Kerala -South India 2!5
Table 1: Demand and supply of reeds for different agencies (t)
HNL’ KSBC PPM Total

Percenta GE collection
Year Allotment. Collection Allotment Collectiqn Allotment Collection Allotment Collection
to al lotment
85-86 189,000 54,677 25,000 14,415 85,000 2,196 299,000 71,288 23.84
86-87 189,000 77,340 25,000 13 ,867 214,000 91,207 42.62
61,355 25,000 15,555 - - 2 1 4 , 0 0 0 76,910 35.94

87-88 189,000
88-89 189,000 57,171 25,000 17,500 - 214,000 74,671 34.89
89-90 189,000 88,061 30,000 18,055 - 219,000 95,749 43.72
90-91 189,000 88,061 3 0,000 20,278 - - 219,000 108,339 49.47
Remark: ‘HNL - Hindustan Newsprint Ltd.

‘KSBC - Kerala State Bamboo Corporation
‘PPM - Punalur Paper Mills
l MALAPPURAM
‘ I
,
Figure 1: Distribution of important Figure 2: Distribution of other

spp in Kerala spp in Kerala
26 (Bamboo Reed) a Vanishing Asset of Forests in Kerala South India

Studies on Bamboo Species Growing in the

Indo-Nepal Terai Region and Bihar State of India
Jainendra Kumar and Ashok Kumar
the northern plains, the bamboo ripens to yellow and

Introduction vermillion and dries after 3 years.
Bamboo are indispensable articles of commerce in Used for a variety of purposes.
em India. They are used on a vast scale ranging from
housemaking to manufacture of baskets and granaries. 2. :
Height 80'.
The present investigation covered the region between 82 Length of internode : 10’ 12”.
degree E and 88 degree E longitude and 23 degree N and Circumference : 10” 12”.
28 degree N latitude consisting of the northern state of Bi- Diameter : 3 5"
har of India and the adjacent hilly terai areas of Nepal. Lumen : 0.5" 0.75".
: 14” rough.
Topography and climate White ring above the node, brownish smaller ring below
Total Area : Approx. 209,227 sq. Kms. the node. Stem sheath without auricle. Arched on the
It is the strongest bamboo used as hard shafts etc.
Elevation : Minimum 125’ (in northern Second most widely cultivated species. Does not survive in
plains) northernmost parts.
Maximum 5,000’ (Parts of South :
Bihar Plateau) Height -75'.
Rainfall : 100 200 cm. Length of internode : 12” 18”.
Diameter
Soil : Alluvial clay, sand or loam in the
Lumen : 1.5 3”.
plains. in the Plateau
Leaf : 1.5”. White rings below the
region.
nodes. Dense clumps. Stem sheath
with fringed auricle. Widely culti-
Distribution of bamboo species vated in eastern parts.
Map I shows the region under survey and the distribution 4. : Well.
of the main species of bamboo. Species were identified on Height -70'.
the basis of Gamble (1896) and Haines (1925).
Length of internode : 18”.
Diameter : 3 4".
Cultivated s north of the Ganges
and of the region of Nepal Lumen : 1.5” 2.5”.
1. Leaf : 8” 10” 1.5”.
Stem sheath 8 12” with fibriate auricles. Highly
Height 60 70’. tose bamboo with scattered culms resembling
Length of internode : 1’ 1.5’. in northern areas.
Circumference : 5. :
Diameter : 3 5"
Height : 40-60'.
Leaf : 12” 1.2” No rings on the nodes. Length of internode : 12” 17”. Longer in thinner
culms.
Stem sheath without auricle.
* P.G. Dept. of India .

Circumference : 5” - 18”. Stem sheath : Abundant especially on the upper

Diameter : 6”. nodes, 6” Auricles present.
Lumen : 4.2”. 5. :
Leaf : 17.6” / 3.3”. Eeight : 80’ 100’.
Velvety brown rings below and above nodes, which can be Length of internode : 1 1.5”.
scratched. Rooting from the upper side of the upper ring. Lumen : large, 1 3 nate thorns.
Stem sheath 10” / 8”. A beautiful bamboo, scarcely culti-
vated useful for waterpipe and water boring. Leaf 5 8”
Stem sheath : 12 15” 9 12”.
6. 'Nenua' : Bambusa nana, Roxb.
Height : 6 - 10’. Many varieties exist of this bamboo in wild habitats of
Diameter : 0.5” - 1”. southern hills in moist valleys.
A dwarf highly caespitose bamboo cultivated for making
strong shafts or walking sticks. Munro.
7. ‘Bore Baans’ : Bambusa balcoou, Roxb. Eeight : 30’ 40’.
Height : 60’ - 70’. Length of internode : 5” 7.5”.
Length of internode : 10 - 18”. Diameter : 2.0”.
Diameter : 2.5 - 7”. Lumen : thin or nil.
Lumen : 1 - 1.5”. 7. ‘Udal :
Leaves : 6 - 12” / 2” Round base, stiff
branching on the lower parts. Cul- Common wild species found in south pla-
tivated in eastern parts. teau hills and moist valleys
8. Sapta Baans’ : Bambusa -Vulgaris, 5chrad. D. sericeus, D. giganteus, B. arundinacea,
Height : 40 - 50’. of and Arundinaria. Wild species of
Length of internode : 10 - 18”. northern eastern forests and Nepal Terai hills are D.
Diameter : 2 - 4.5”. hamiltoni, Thamnocalamus Arundinaria
Leaf : 6 - 10” / 0.5” - 1.0”. sarensis, Arundinaria Bambusa falconeri, B.
Stem sheath : 6 - 10” with auricles. B. and Bambusa vulgaris.
Nodes unraised with a ring of brown hairs. Green bamboo
with yellow stripes or completely yellow. Suited for elastic Taxonomy of cultivated species
shafts.
Growth of an individual of a cultivated bamboo can
Common species cultivated in south be expressed by an index.
Bihar
1. ‘Pahar : Growth index (G.I.) length of 10 successive internodes
Average circumference of those internodes
South Bihar forms of this species are more greener or dark
green and caespitose. Straight, tall and not arched. Hard G.I. may be less than one or more than one or one. The
without any lumen. lesser the the higher the average area of the inter-
2. node ( 1 ave.), is constant for a species
of this area, where r = radius ; 1 = average length of the
This species is similar to except for smaller internodes.
heads of flowers (0.5” 0.8”).
3. : Cultivation and propagation
Munro. In northern India, bamboo are propagated chiefly through
Height : 80’ 100’. rhizomes and cuttings. Planting is done between the last
Length of internode : 12” 18”. week of February and first week of March or sometimes
Diameter during the rainy month of July.
Lumen : 1 1.5”.
Rhizomatous propagation involves more labour and time.
Strong tall bamboo. Multiple uses.. Hence propagation by cuttings is preferred. Stem cuttings
4. ‘Basin’ :
of 1.5 2’ are sown in holes of 8 cubic feet. Irrigation is
Munro. regularly done till rootings become firm and aerial shoots
Height : 25’ 30’. are formed.
Length of internode : 12 18”.
Diameter 2” 2.5”. Problems of growth and diseases
Lumen : 1.2”. Dendrocalamus does not grow well in the
Leaf : 6.8” 0.9 1.0” em parts probably due to its highly xerophytic nature (MC
28 Studies on Bamboo Species Growing in the Terai Region and Bihar State of India
Clure, 1966). Hence it is a species confmed mostly to

Materials and methods
southern hills in wild state (Haines, 1925).
Plower buds were collected during April - May and fixed
D. longispathus, another commonly cultivated bamboo in 1 : 1 acetic alcohol. Anther squashes were made in 1%
shows early yellowing and drying in northern region; it is acetocarmine. Slides were made permanent in acetic acid -
susceptible to attack by beetle in central and southern ethyl alcohol series. Photographs were taken of temporary
Parts. slides by Ricoh SLR 10 M auto camera.
B. tulda, another species shows attack by white ants in this
part of the world. Observation and discussion
Plate I shows flower buds, dividing PMCs at anaphase 1,
Flowering dyads and pollen grains. Pollen fertility has been found to
be 90%. Table I shows % meiotic irregularities. The fig-
Flowering is rarely seen in cultivated bamboo. Sporadic ures 1.2, 1.3 and 1.4 establish n = 12 in B. nutans, wall. It
flowering has been reported in different species after a shows that this species is at diploid level.
long gap of years. Flower buds were collected by the au-
thors in Dendrocalamus strictus from southern plateau re- Avdulov (193 1) showed that the basic number is x = 12 in
gion during April and November. Haines (1925) (reported Bambuseae along with Oryza and some other genera of
sporadic flowering in this species nearly every year in No- Gramineae. Hence the occurence of n = 12 in B. nutans,
vember from this hilly region. Wall (Makor) of this area establishes this species as one of
the most primitive bamboo, which gave rise to higher
D. fongispathus has been seen in flowering during May - polyploid types.
June. Another common species - Bambusa tulda flowers
during February - March. Flower-buds of Bambusa nu-
tans, Wall. were collected during the months of April - References
May for cytological study. Avdulov, N. P. 1931. Karyo - systematische Untersuchung
derfamilie Gramineen. Bull. Appl. Bat. Suppl. 44 : 428.
Fedrov, A. 1974. Chromosome number of flowering plants.
Cytology Otto Koeltz. Science Publishers, W. Germany.
In most of the species of Bambusa and Dendrocalamus, 2n Gamble, J. S. 1896. The Bambuseae of British India. Re-
chromosome number has been reported as 72 (Fedrov, print, 1965. Ann. Royal Bot. Gard Calcutta. 260 pp.
1974). Janaki Ammal (1959) reported 2n = 48 in Arundi- Haines, H. H. 1925. The Botany of Bihar and Orissa. Part
naria anceps and Chusquea culeou. 2n = 48 has been also V - VI. Reprint, 1978. Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh,
reported in Arundinaria atamiana, A. fortunei, A. gi- Dehradun, India.
gantes. A. simontii and A. tessellata (Fedrov, l.c.). Janaki Ammal,E. K. 1959. A cyto - systematic survey
of Bambuseae /. Bull. Bot. Sure., India. 1 : 78 - 84.
All chromosome number of species in the genus Bambusa MC Clure, F. A, 1966. The bamboo : A fresh perspective.
have been reported, according to Fedrov (1974). Cambridge Mass. Havard.
In the present communications, we report the chromosome
number of Bambusa nutans, Wall. as n = 12.
Studies on Bamboo Species Growing in the Indo-Nepal Terai Region and Bihar State of India
GANGES
Map I: Bihar
30 Stuck on Bamboo Species Growing in the Indo-Nepal Terai Region and Bihar State of India
Figure 1 : Flower buds of Figure 1.4: Al showing 12 chromosomes at

each pole
Figure 1.2: Unequal segregation of Figure 1.5: Dyad stage

somes(13 +
Figure 1.3: Al showing 12 chromosomes at Figure 1.6: Pollen grains

each pole
Plate 1: Cytology
Studies on Bamboo Species in the Region and Bihar State of India 31

Notes on Taxonomy, Distribution and Conservation of

Bamboo for Bangladesh
M. K.
field guide was felt urgently. Based on the vegetative

Introduction alone a field guide for 18 bamboo species of
3angladesh was prepared by (1982).
Bamboo are plants of enormous importance to the rural
people in several regions of the world. Likewise their use- 3amboo species occurring in Bangladesh were recorded to
fulness is great in Bangladesh. In Bangladesh bamboo are 22 in nine genera as reported by Gamble
used for house construction, scaffolding, ladders, mats, Prain (1906) and Bor (1940).
baskets, fencings, toolhandles, pipes, toys, fishing rods, the number of species are regarded as 27 in 10
fishing traps, handicrafts, etc., and for other articles of 1991). Table 1 gives a list of the species
everyday use. In some parts of the country the bamboo from Bangladesh after (1991). The concept
leaves are used as thatching materials and it is a good genera and species given in the list mostly follows
der. It is also an important raw material for paper indus- (1896).
tries. Bamboo are planted for hedges and landscaping.
Bamboo groves also act as a wind break and prevent soil
erosion. The young tender shoots of bamboo are eaten as Present status
delicious vegetables. These young shoots, locally known as the recorded 27 Gigantochloa macrostachya,
are much eaten by the tribal people of Bangla- maclellandii and Oxytenanthera albociliata at-e
desh during the rainy season. Considering the wide range in the present paper as absent from Bangladesh.
of uses including construction materials it is called the macrostachya Kurz was reported to be present in
“poor man timber”. (Gamble 1896). Kurz (1877) described the species
on specimen of 1862 from hills,
Bamboo research in Bangladesh was initiated in early 3urma. Later (1906: 719) on critical
1970s. at the Bangladesh Forest Research Institute ions of his specimens transferred G. macrostachya from
The taxonomic studies of Bangladesh bamboo are figantochloa t o Oxytenanthera.
very recent. In the present paper a list of different bamboo
species recorded from Bangladesh has been given with With regard to 0. macrostachya (Syn. Gigantochloa
their vernacular names. The taxonomic problems of Ban- Kurz) as pointed out by C.N. (in
gladesh bamboo are discussed and notes on their distribu- dt. 3 1.10.1927 with the specimens of Rodger
tion and conservation are given. 1084, Parker 2268; Rogers 38 and 339 T at Kew under G.
wacrostachya) noted that the sheaths of this species as de-
scribed by Kurz and figured by Gamble (1896, t.54) are
Bamboo taxonomy in Bangladesh different. Parkinson further noted that he was quite ac-
quainted with G. macrostachya growing in the forests of
Check list of species
Burma and the sheaths are not at all like those figured by
The taxonomic accounts of Bangladesh bamboo are found Gamble. He stated that sheaths figured by Gamble in plate
in the works of Kurz Gamble (1896) and Bor 36 under Bambusa are of G. macrostachya, also
(1940). The first comprehensive work on that the sheaths described by Kurz as G. macrostachya be-
bamboo seems to be that of Gamble (1896). Blatter (1929) long to another group of bamboo called by the Burmese as
updated the information of Indian bamboo. But no TABINDING-WA (that is B. tulda, longispiculata, teres
work on Bangladesh bamboo has been done to date . I and burmanica). Gamble (1896) recorded its occurrence
Taxonomic research in Bangladesh bamboo is very from Chittagong. It is doubtful, whether this species
and has been initiated at the Chittagong. Though occurs at all! It does not seem to be present.
there are many problems in bamboo taxonomy, the need
Table List of bamboo species recorded from Distribution in

Bangladesh (after 1991)
I 6. D. forests
Nees et.Arn.ex
in Munro
names Bangladesh I 7. D. khang, Hill
. Bambusa bans, in Sylhet, Kurz an Sylhet
(Retz.) Willd. bans, Mymensingh, Also cultivated
:entua n and
. B. Roxb. districts
ua, hilbarua, the country. Roxb. in many
elibarua, in
ak, balku, and central 19. to occur in
a, bora bans,
ng and Cox’s
3azar
. as a hedge
Willd. to occur in
in many Kurz he forests of Hill
B. in many
21 bans of Cox’s
Gamble ex. bon, common in
rar, Hill districts and
makla, districts and
(Kurz) Benth het
akua Mymensingh
2 2. paiyya, of Sylhet,
era (Roxb.) Kurz Hill
Wall. ex. of Chittagong xicts and Cox’s
Munro a mitinga Sylhet; rar. Sporadically
in Sylhet,
in the mixed
nensingh,
of garo hills.
B. Munro (type locality cultivated
n village) in vicinity of
B. burma of Sylhet and
Munro Tracts. Also culti- 23. of Sylhet,
vated in Sylhet and (Cam ble) Chittagong and Hill
districts
3. B. Mitinga Forests of 24. Oxytenanthera Kalia Reported to occur in
Ham.ex Munro gong, Hill districts Monro Sylhet forests
and Sylhet
25.0. kaliseri Occurs in the forests
B. Roxb. Cultivated through- Munro of Sylhet,
tinga, out Bangladesh; and Hill districts
bon, common in central
bakhal and eastern districts. 26. Bajail Reported to occur in
Also occurs in hill the forests of
gong Hill Tracts and
forests
Sylhet
IO. Baijja, ja, jowa Cultivated in all
Schrd.ex. districts 27. sp. Rangoon bans Cultivated in bhawal
jai, Orag (unidentified) tracts of Cazipur;
M mensingh
I 1. Bambusa sp. Kanakkaich Cultivated in aluka) and
la, Brahmanbaria Brahamanbaria
Narshingdhi districts
Bambusa sp. Chota-mitinga, Cultivated iri Bor (1940) in Flora cited the locality Sylhet for 0.
(unidentified) tengra gonj, Moulvibazar,
chikoin,
but no specimen was seen this locality in
Sylhet and Gazipur
koi, districts at Kew or Dehra Dun
Bambusa sp. Bethua, moral Cultivated in was recorded by one species D. maclellendii
(unidentified) menshing, Sylhet, from Chittagong (Gamble 1896). Its
Moulvibazar and
Chittagong districts was based on vegetative characters alone, as a
lofty or bamboo. Gamble’s figure of D.
4. Bambusa Katajali, Cultivated in
(unidentified) tha, mensingh, (Gamble 1896, t. 99) is from living specimens of
rajava, Dinajpur, Botanic Garden, Calcutta. Since Gamble (1896) no
keskijawa, Rangpur, Khulna information is available about this species. Its
districts is incomplete. The climbing bamboo occurring
Bhudum Cultivated in Bud- the forests of Chittagong and Sylhet is
Munro dhist temples of Benth. So it seems that no
Chittagong and species occurs in Bangladesh. Dinochloa is distributed
Bazar
in Malaysia, Java and the Philippines.
Notes on Taxonomy, Distribution and Conservation of Bamboo Bangladesh 33

Occurrence of Teinostachyum griffithii is also doubtful. In longispathus collected from two different localities
Bangladesh it has been reported to occur from the forests showed differences in culm-sheath and branch bud
of Chittagong and Sylhet. But there is no record of botani- morphology. One clump type showed similarities with
cal specimens of this species in herbaria at Kew or Calcut- D. longispathus; one clump type with 0. nigrociliata
ta. In the recent past no clump of this species was also and one with N. dullooa. He ranked the differences at
found from Bangladesh. varietal level. These distinct entities need further
investigation.
Taxonomic problems v) There are also problems in identification of some spe-
There are many taxonomic problems in recognizing Bang- cies. At least the identity of five species is yet to be de-
ladeshi species. The following are worthy to be termined. So from the taxonomic point of view, the
mentioned: bamboo of Bangladesh pose many interesting problems
including identification and complex unravelling.
i) Bambusa tulda - longispiculata - nutans - teres com-
plex: All these species were established from their flo- Distribution in Bangladesh
ral characters. It is difficult to differentiate these In Bangladesh there are two distinct bamboo production
species on vegetative characters. In the available litera- areas; one is the village groves where bamboo is cultivated
ture (Gamble 1896), these have been delimited on the by idividuals mostly for domestic consumption; the other
characters of anther tips such as tip apiculate for B. nu- is the forest where the entire stock is natural.
tans; penicillate for B. teres and obtuse for B . tulda
which are not always constant. B. longispiculata was
based on the spikelet length, defined as “pikelet long” Village bamboo
for B. longispiculata which have not been quantified. Although 15-17 species are cultivated in the village
The most common village bamboo of Bangladesh viz. groves, the more common are B. tulda, B. balcooa, B. vul-
‘talla ‘, ‘mahal ‘, ‘mitinga ‘, and forest bamboo ‘mitinga ’ garis, B. longispiculata, tengra/tengal, ‘kanakkaich 'ku-
comprise of this complex. Further studies on this com- rajava and ‘bethua B. tulda, B. balcooa, and B. vulgaris
plex are needed. occur throughout the country. B. balcooa and B. longispi-
ii) ‘Bethua - problem: Gamble (1896) mentioned this lo- culata are fairly common in northern districts. B. tulda
cal name from Sylhet under B. polymorpha. Bethua is and B. vulgaris occur widely in eastern and central dis-
grown in village groves. In the year 1984 some bamboo tricts. ‘Kanakkaich and ‘bethua’ mostly occur in Sylhet
clump of ‘bethua’ flowered in Sylhet. On examining and Comilla. ‘Tengrdtengal’ is seen in cultivation in the
the flowers, it seems that it is not B. polymorpha. The districts of Moulvibazar, Sylhet and Gazipur. ‘Rangoon
spikelet has similarities with B. tulda and allied spe- bans’ is mostly distributed in Gazipur and Brahmanbaria
cies. But it dithers from B. tulda by : pubescent culm, districts.
absence of branches up to upper mid culm and culm-
sheath characters, . It seems to be some species of Forest bamboo
Bambusa which is yet to be determined. Bamboo species growing in the forest areas are Melocan-
iii) ‘Kali’ identification problem: The identity of ‘kali na baccifera, B. tulda, B. nutans, B. teres, B. polymorpha,
one of the Bangladesh forest bamboo needs to be clari- D. longispathus, D. hamiltonii, Melocalamus compactiflo-
fied further. It has been generally referred to as Oxyte- rus, N. dullooa, and 0. nigrociliata. Among the species
nanthera nigrociliata Munro (Gamble 1896, Prain growing in the forests, Melocanna baccifera grows in
1903). Oxytenanthera is an African genus (Holttum pure brakes but the others grow sporadically in small
1956, Dransfield 1980, Clayton and Renvoize 1986). patches. Natural bamboo occur in the eastern hill forests
Holttum (1956) stated that some Asiatic Oxytenanthera of Chittagong, Chittagong Hill Tracts and north eastern
species should be merged with Dendrocalamus and hill forests of Chittagong, Chittagong Hill Tracts and
some with Gigantochloa. Kurz (1870) stated that Mun- north eastern hill forests of Sylhet. The major vegetation
ro (1868) confounded at least three species under 0. type of these hill forests are moist evergreen and moist
nigrociliata. Only the Javanese specimens cited by semi evergreen type. Natural bamboo form a component of
Munro represent 0. nigrociliata (Kurz 1870). Widjaja the vegetation of semi-evergreen forests. Except D. hamil-
(1987) has treated it as Gigantochloa nigrociliata tonii, all the forest species are common in both the eastern
(Buse) Kurz. She mentioned that none of the speci- and north eastern hilly forests. D. hamiltonii is confined to
mens from India is referable to G. nigrociliata. Kurz in the eastern side of the eastern Sylhet forest and usually
(1870) stated that his Bambusa andamanica Kurz was grows along streams.
also included in 0. nigrociliata. Later Kurz (1877)
transferred B. andamanica to Gigantochloa. So, it is Diversity and conservation
clear that 'kali is not 0. nigrociliata. Its floral charac-
ters indicate that it is Gigantochloa but the species The record of 27 bamboo species in 10 genera distributed
should be determined. from villages to forests indicates a high status of biodiv-
ersity in Bangladesh. The eastern and north-eastern hill
iv) Variations in Dendrocalamus longispathus: Hasan forests of Bangladesh have natural bamboo lie along the
(1979) reported that clumps raised of seeds of D.
34 Notes on Taxonomy, Distribution and Conservation of Bamboo for Bangladesh

boarders of the north-eastern Indian States and Burma forests. Natural habitats of these species need to be
which are rich in bamboo (Biswas, 1988, Mauria and conserved.
Arora, 1988). Bamboo taxa of this region have an
Indo-Malayan affinity. The major limitation of in-situ conservation of bamboo is
that the natural stands of bamboo are scattered in pockets
The uses of bamboo in every day life are very diversified. over large areas. However, in the areas where large
With increasing population, bamboo are being natural bamboo reserves occur, restricted areas should be
indiscriminately cut both from villages and forests. Its determined, and declared reserves. Ex-situ conservation
stock is being depleted and habitats are becoming through seeds from different flowering phases, and
shrunken and restricted. through vegetative methods will be useful in genetic
conservation. Centralization of different lines of periodic
There is no systematic study about the genetic diversity of flowering and out-of-phase flowering will bring all
the bamboo resources of Bangladesh. No germplasm has germplasms together.
yet been evaluated for its growth characteristics,
adaptation range, habitat preference, or resistance to pests Efforts have been taken to centralize bamboo from home
and diseases. However it is evident from observations that and abroad at Bangladesh Forest Research Institute
there variations exist in both village and forest bamboo. Bambusetum, Chittagong. So far about 34 different
Variations are marked generally in culm diameter, species and lines (including some unidentified) in about
internode length, colour striations in culm internode, 10 genera have been centralized from different parts of the
amount of branchiness, culm wall thickness, lumen country and abroad. This is the only live bamboo
diameter, etc. Kochhar et al. (1990) in a recent study from collection in Bangladesh, it needs to be further enriched.
Arunachal Pradesh, India stated that much intraspecific
variation exists in bamboo.
Conclusion
Apart from morphological variations bamboo also vary in It is widely understood that the correct botanical name is
flowering and reproductive behaviour. Though bamboo an essential reference point. However many taxonomic
flowers at long intervals, precoccious flowering is not problems of Bangladesh bamboo are yet unsolved. The
uncommon (Brandis, 1899; Gupta, 1939; Ahmed, 1969; taxonomic problems can be resolved by systematic studies
Banik, 1980). Bamboo are propagated through both seeds both in the field and in the herbarium. Most of the type
and vegetative propagules but vegetative propagation is specimens of this region are preserved at the herbarium of
the common practice. In Bangladesh Bambusa balcooa Royal Botanic Garden Kew, while the Forest Research
and B. vulgaris do not produce seeds (Banik, 1979; Banik Institute Dehra Dun, India has good living collections.
and Alam, 1987) so their germplasm are restricted within Biological problems are not necessarily confined within
apomictic populations. These two species are susceptible the country. So regional and international cooperations are
to blight disease (Rahman, 1987; Boa 1987). required to solve the taxonomic problems of bamboo.
The bamboo resources of Bangladesh need to be conserved
considering : the biodiversity, habitat diversity, genetic References
variability, variation in flowering and breeding biology, Alam, M.K. 1982. A Guide to Eighteen Species of Bamboo
and multiple uses. from Bangladesh. Bull. 2, Plant Taxonomy Series. Forest
Research Institute, Chittagong. 29 pp.
The linkage of bamboo with the culture and heritage of Alam, M.K. 1991. In introduction to the bamboo of
rural Bangladesh has played in important role in its Bangladesh. BIC- India Bulletin (In press).
conservation. At least 15-17 species (Table 1) are being A h m e d , M . 1969. Flowering of seedlings of
cultivated in village homesteads. Cultivation in village Den drocalamus stricfus. Indian Forester, 95: 214.
homesteads is a good mode of conservation of species. Banik, R.L. 1980. Propagation of bamboo by clonal
There is no evaluation of intraspecific germplasms. The methods and by seed. In Bamboo Research in Asia, (eds.)
chance of crossing in village bamboo are low; so their G. Lessard and A.Chouinard, 139-150 pp. International
genetic base seems to be narrow. Ex-situ conservation of Development Research Centre, Canada.
many germplasm from various parts of the country will Banik, R.L. and Alam, M.K. 1987. A note on the flowering
bring the wide genetic resources together. of Bambusa balcooa Roxb. Bano Biggyan Patrika,
16(1&2).
Among the forest bamboo, only Melocunna baccifera Biswas, S. 1988. Studies on bamboo distribution in north-
grows in brakes. Other species grow in small forest eastern region of India. India Forester114(g): 514-531.
pockets. Of about 12-14 forest species Dendrocalamus Blatter, E. 1929. The Indian bamboo- brought upto date.
hamiltonii occurs in north eastern Sylhet forests. Indian Forester, 55,: 541-559, 586-612.
Melocalamus compactiflorus (the only climbing bamboo Boa, E.R. 1987. The occurrence of bamboo blight in
in the country) now has a restricted habitat at present Bangladesh. In Recent Research on Bamboo (eds.) A.N.
confined in few patches in the forests of Cox’s Bazar. Rao, G. Dhanarajan and C.B. Sastry, 280-299 pp,
Neohouzeaua dullooa seems to the affected by biotic International Development Research Centre, Canada.
interference and its population is also decreasing in the Bor, N.L. 1940. Flora of Assam. Vol. 5, 480 pp (Reprinted
1982), A Von Book Company, Delhi.
Notes on Taxonomy, Distribution and Conservation of Bamboo for Bangladesh 35

Brandis, D. 1899. Biological notes on Indian bamboo. Kochhar, S.; Mal, B. and Chaudhury, R.G. 1990.
Indian Forester, 25: l-25. Population aspect of the phenological behaviour of
Brandis, D. 1906. Indian Trees. International Book bamboo germplasm. In Bamboo - Current Research,
Distributors, Dehra Dun, India, 767 pp. (eds.) I.V. Ramanuja Rao, R.Ganaharan and C.B. Sastry.
51-58 pp; Kerala Forest Research Institute, India and
Clayton, W.D. and Renvoize, S.A. 1986. Genera International Development Research Centre, Canada.
Graminum - Grasses of the World. 389 pp. Her Majesty’s
Stationery Office, London. Kurz. S. 1870. On some new or imperfectly known Indian
Plants. Journal of the Asiatic Society, 2: 61-91.
Dransfield, S. 1980. Bamboo taxonomy in indo-Malesian
Region. In: Bamboo Research in Asia (eds.). G.Lessard Kurz, S. 1877. Forest Flora of British Burma, 2: 547-471.
and A.Chouinard, 121-130 pp. International Development Mauria, S. and Arora, R.K. 1988. Genetic resources of
Research Centre, Canada. bamboo - an Indian perspective. Indian Forester, 114(g):
Gamble, J.S. 1896. The Bambuseae of British India. 539-548.
Annals of Royal Botanical Garden, Calcutta, 7: 133 pp. Munro, W. 1868. A Monograph of the Bambusaceae.
Gupta, M.L.S. 1952. Gregarious flowering of Transactions of Linnean Society of London. 26, 1-157 pp.
Dendrocalamus strictus. Indian Forester, 65: 583-585. Prain, D. 1903. Bengal Plants, Vol. 2, 663-l 319 pp,
Hasan, S.M. 1979. Observations on culms and Calcutta.
culm-sheaths of Ora bamboo raised from seeds. Bano Rahman, M.A. 1987. Bamboo blight in the village groves
Biggyan Patrika 8( l&2): 13-26. of Bangladesh. In Recent Research on bamboo. (eds.)
Holttum, R.E. 1956. The classification of bamboo. A.N. Rao, G. Dhanarajan and C.B. Sastry, 266-271 pp.
Phytomorphology, 6: 73-90. International Development Research Centre, Canada.
Hooker, J.D. 1897. Flora of British India. Vol. 7, 842 pp. Widjaja, E.A. 1987. A revision of Malesian Gigantochloa
L-Reeve and Co. Ltd. Kent. (Poaceae - Bambusoideae). Reinwardtia, 10: 291-380.

The Bamboo Resource in Sri Lanka
P.A. Swarnamali’ and K. Vivekanandan**
(a) Cultivation
Introduction (b) Collection raw materials from state forests and pri-
Bamboo are of enormous importance to the rural people of vate lands
South and Southeast Asia. In classical forestry they have (c) Collection and delivery of raw materials
been referred to as ‘minor forest produce’, but in recent (d) Processing raw materials
times the status of bamboo has changed considerably and (e) Production of bamboo-made goods
it is emerging as an important plant group in many forest- (f) Buying and selling bamboo-made goods.
ry programmes (Vivekanandan, 1985). Bamboo continue The required information was received from 130 Beats.
to hold an important place in the rural economy of the de- Detailed information was received from about 50 Beats.
veloping countries, Sharma 1985. They are renowned for Information received from the preliminary survey was
their usefulness and are aptly called the ‘poor man’s tim- summarized (Figure 1). The main Districts involved with
ber’. The strength of bamboo, their straightness, lightness, bamboo are Galle and Ratnapura.
relative ease of propagation and quick growth make them
very suitable for a variety of purposes: construction of Of the people who are involved in the bamboo industry,
houses, bridges, scaffolding, water pipes, fencing and nu- 77% are engaged in collecting raw materials (Figure 2).
merous implements. In Sri Lanka, bamboo are largely 69% collect bamboo from State Forests and the rest from
private lands (Table 1).
used in the handicraft industry and in the housing and
construction sector and two species, Chlandra stridula and
Bambusa vulgaris respectively, are the species mainly Final survey
used for these purposes (Neela de Zoysa et al, 1988). Stratified sampling was carried out and the services of Di-
A survey has been conducted to study the market demand visional Forest Officers were obtained to collect informa-
tion for the final survey. The sample contained 100
and supply of bamboo, the quantity of the standing volume
available and the quantity of yellow bamboo used for con- people.
struction and other purposes in Sri Lanka during 1989 and
1990. In this paper the results of the survey are discussed. Cultivating bamboo
This information will be of considerable importance in All farmers cultivate yellow or green bamboo (Bambusa
formulating plants for plantation forestry with bamboo. vulgairs).The bamboo culms they produce are sold for
construction purposes. Farmers sell their bamboo on a
Demand and supply of bamboo wholesale basis to the collectors and it is then used for
construction. The methods of harvesting was wasteful.
The survey had to take into account that bamboo : collec-
The production of Bambusa vulgaris is about 50 culms per
tion, cultivation, processing and consumption, involves
clump from private lands. The bamboo is harvested every
people from different socio-economic groups in society.
2 or 3 years. The farmers estimate that their net income is
Rs. 750 (USS 18) per clump. Cultivators have declared
Preliminary survey that 55% of demand cannot be met.
In order to study the demand and supply of bamboo a pre-
liminary survey was carried out. The information for the Harvesting bamboo from state forests
preliminary survey was collected from the entire island.
The main species harvested from the forest is Bata, Och-
There are 17 Divisions and 386 Beats in Sri Lanka. The
landra stridula. Bamboo are harvested by 79% people and
questionnaire was forwarded to the Beat Forest Officers to
obtain information regarding the following:
Bamboo collection, cultivation, processing

and consumption Table 1: Percentage of people involved in the
bamboo industry
250
Percentage
Activity of people
200
Cultivating 6.15
Collecting raw materials from the forest 69.06
150
Collecting raw materials from private lands 8.12
Collecting from gatherers and growers, and 1.54
100 delivering
Producing bamboo-made goods 11.54
50
Buying and selling bamboo products 3.59
People groups Harvesting bamboo from private lands

Descriptions:
The main species involved is yellow bamboo (Bambusa
1 . Galle 2. Kumara-Eliyn 3. Ratnapura 4. Kandy vulgaris). However small quantities of Bata (Ochlandra
5 . Kalwtara 6. Kegalle 7. Badulla stridula) are also obtained from private lands. The average
price paid to the cultivators for one culm of yellow bam-
Figure 1: Number of eople engaged in the boo is about Rs. 15/- (US$0.35). The transport of each
bamboo in dustryin each division lorry load, of approximately 300-350 culms, costs about
Rs.750/- (US$18) per 30 miles. The market price of yel-
Percentage of people low bamboo is Rs.40/- (US$l) per culm.
80
Processing and producing goods
70
Most people who are involved in the processing of bamboo
60 use it in the production of goods, such as baskets, flower
pots, cooking utensils and handicrafts. The producers ob-
50 tain a net income of approximately Rs.5,000/- (US$l18)
40 per year. The species used in Bata, Ochlandra stridula. Of
the people involved in the production of bamboo made
30 goods 35% said that they are unable to meet the demand
for their products due to lack of raw materials.
20
10 Resource availability
l-
A survey has been conducted to find out the extent of bam-
boo available in the entire island. The main bamboo spe-
Activity cies occurring in Sri Lanka are Bambusa vulgaris and
Ochlandra stridula (Table 2).
Descriptions:
1. .Collecting raw materials from state forests and private lands
(77.2%) Bamboo culm production
2.Collecting and supplying (1.5%) The quantities of bamboo culms harvested in Sri Lanka
3.Buying and selling bamboo (3.6%)
4.Cultivating bamboo (6.2%) during 1989 and 1990 are presented in Table 3 and Figure
5.Producing bamboo-made goods (11.5%) 3. The annual production is 27 1,193 culms. The figures
represent only the permits issued by the Assistant Govern-
Figure 2: Percentage of people engaged in
ment Agents when bamboo culms are transported by road.
each activity
In fact, a great number of bamboo culms are cut and used
in rural areas and therefore are not recorded by the Assis-
are processed and used in the production of bamboo prod.
tant Government Agents. Consequently, the actual figures
ucts. The remaining 21% people sell their bamboo to pro.
for culm production may be two or three times greater
cessors, and obtain an income of about Rs. l/- to 1.50
than those presented in Table 3. The species involved is
(US$ 0.02-0.04) per culm. When bamboo are harvested
Bambusa vulgaris.
from crown forests a royalty of 25 cts. (US$ 0.006) per
culm of Bata should be paid but the figure could change
from time to time according to the decision of the Conser
vator of Forests.
38 Notes on Taxonomy, Distributii and Conservation of Bamboo for Bangladesh

Table 2: The area (ha) of bamboo species in Sri Lanka
Yellow Bata(O. Giant bam- Spiny bam- Other Total

bamboo(B. stridula) boo(D. boo(B.
Division vulgaris) giganteus) bambusa)
Badulla 8 (NA) 8
Kurnegala 12 1 1 14
Kalutara 62 1,352 1,414
Ratnapura 1(NA) 4 5
Nuwara Eliya 29 4 300 333
Matale 2 2
Galle 5 576 581
Ham bantota 42 42
Kegale 75 190 265
Total 236 2,123 1 4 300 2,664
Remark: montane types (Bata), NA = not available
Promote cultivation of economically important bam-

2.
Conclusions and boo to increase standing volume and meet the
recommendations demand.
A small number of people are engaged either full-time or 3 . Create man made bamboo plantations.
part-time in the bamboo industry in Sri Lanka due to the 4 . Initiate research to improve the durability,
scarcity of the resources in the island. As the bamboo has strength, service life and other useful characteristics
to be transported by road for great distances to the major of bamboo for construction purposes.
use locations, the cost is increased. 5. Co-operate with rural people to plant more bamboo
for use in their households and sell the surplus, if
The following recommendations are made: any, for additional income.
1. Promote the cultivation of useful species eg B. vul- 6 . Increase the production of bamboo for local con-
garis, close to major use locations. sumption; a good production and management pro-
gramme for bamboo in both natural forests and
Area (ha) plantations is required.
Table 3: Survey on permits issued for bamboo
culm transport during 1989 and 1990
No of bam- No of persons
Royality re-
140K Divlsiim No of boo culms ssued
Coneder R s.
issued issued termites
120K
Ampara 7 1,165 7 1,165
look
Anuradapura 1,030 1,030
Calle 832 162,089 784 24,155
Monaragala 13 2,107 13
Badulla 660 8,879 66 86

4 0 K
Kalutara 471 140,624 211
2 0 K
Kurunegala 679 127,681 508 16,290
Kega! le 240 45,142 240 5,880

I I 1
Ratnapura 241 14,690 238
Division of bamboo species
Kandy 359 38,980 352 24,230.4
Figure 3: No. of bamboo culms for which per-
mits were issued during 1989 and Total 2,908 542,387 2,419 73,615.4
1990 in each Division
Notes on Taxonomy, Distribution and Conservation of Bamboo for Bangladesh 39

Lanka.: 6-1 1. Bamboo Current Research, Proc. Interna-

Acknowledgement tional Bamboo Workshop, India.
Financial support from the IDRC is gratefully acknowl- Sharma, Y.M.L., 1985. Inventory and Resource of Bam-
edged. We thank all Field officers in the Forest Depart- boo.: 4-9. Recent Research on Bamboo, Proc. Internation-
ment who assisted with the survey. al Bamboo Workshop, China,
Vivekanandan, K., 1985. Bamboo Research in Sri
Lanka.:61-66, Recent Research on Bamboo. Proc. Interna-
References tional Bamboo Workshop, China.
Neela de Zoysa, Upeksha Hettige, Vivekanandan K., 1988.
Some Aspects of Bamboo and its Utilization in Sri

Moon ex Thw. a Profile

Neela de Zoysa*
to its brittleness. Furthermore, field observations during

Introduction the period 1986 to 1988, noticed a distinct form of the
stridula is a green bamboo common in species in the Sinharaja Forest area. Often found at higher
elevations, this form of 0. stridulahas a more creeping
the wet lowlands in the south west of Sri Lanka. Locally
habit, smaller leaves, flame shaped culm-sheath blades
known as or li”, it is the only indigenous
and tightly clustering groups of small flowers of 2-3 mm
bamboo which supports traditional cottage industry (de
long, reminiscent of the Bambusinae. The described form
Zoysa, Hettige and Vivekanandan, 1990). This paper re-
views the state of knowledge of 0. stridula in view of its seems to frequent the lowlands and valleys, has a more
erect habit, triangular sheath blades and loosely ar-
economic importance in the rural sector. Investigations on
ranged flowers on the inflorescence, with individual flow-
the species was begun in 1984 under an supported
ers more than 1 cm long and fruits 2 cm long with a
research project which aimed at assessing the distribution
distinct keel, This may suggest that there is another genus
and the availability of bamboo in this country and devel-
included in the present species.
oping mass-propagation techniques for economically im-
portant ones.
Ecology and distribution
Taxonomy 0. grows extensively in the rain forests of the wet
lowlands and lower montane areas below 1,500 m, rainfall
0. stridula the type species for the genus is documented
and described in well known 19th century works on the of 1,500 mm to 5,000 mm and a temperature of 17°C to
30°C. The species is found in a small area in the south
Sri flora (Moon, 1835; Thwaites, 1864;
western of the country extending the south of
1900). Confined to South India and Sri Lanka, the genus
has less than ten species. 0. stridulais the only species Oya, down to Galle and Matara, eastward to the foothills
of Adams Peak, spread over six zones defined by
found in Sri Lanka and is also endemic to this country. A
and Gunatilleke (1987) (Figure 2). Within the rain
later description by Senaratne (1956) added little to the
original account. The recent revision of the Bambuseae of forest it grows in a wide variety of habitats ranging from
Sri Lanka by Soderstrom Ellis (1988) includes a com- forest gaps, rocky ridge tops to stream edges. a
prehensive treatment of 0. stridula(Figure 1). Its jor component of secondary successional communities fol-
status remains unchanged except for the rejection lowing shifting cultivation (de Rosayro, the species
of a previously recognized variety (var. This
can occur in dense thickets over large areas.
revision did not include a description of the fruits, subse- There is little understanding so far of the ecology of the
quently described by Rudall & Dransfield (1989). species, considering its relatively wide distribution from a
It is of interest that the var. macufatarecognized earlier few miles inland of the coast to the central mountains, and
has a distinct local name and is not used due the varying habitats it frequents. The rain forest areas
inhabited by 0. stridula are very fragmented (Figure 3) communities. But at present taking up the craft is less de-
and although the species is favoured by disturbance it can cermined by tradition and more influenced by the avail-
tolerate changes only to a limited degree. ability of the raw material, credit facilities and training
programmes etc. In fact there is a rapid movement away
From traditional crafts due to the social stigma associated
Uses with caste.
0. stridula is used mainly for the production of basket-
ware; storage boxes for paddy, linen, carrier baskets for Basketry has also been traditionally a women’s craft, and
food and other materials, winnowing fans for rice, strain- like many such cottage based industries was done part-
ers, food covers, baskets for the tea industry and the gem time, combined with household chores or during seasons
mining industry, and blinds and mats. It is popular among of low agricultural activity. As indicated by Table 1 and
communities living close to forest areas where the bamboo Figure 5, the bamboo craft workers in this country include
is plentiful for : housing; culms for wattle, culm strips for nearly equal proportions of men and women (51%, 49%)
woven inner partitions and leaves as roof thatch. There is and full time and part time workers (48%, 52%).
a seasonal demand for culms for making lantern frames
It is interesting that in the District of Gampaha for in-
during the festival of ‘Vesak’ in the month of May. The
stance, where traditional communities persist, full time
bamboo flute which is a popular instrument in folk music
women workers comprise 65% of the total number of craft
is also made of 0. stridula. The major uses mentioned
workers. On the contrary are women rubber tappers from
above are well known but there is no quantitative informa-
tion on the extent of these uses. The products have a ready the District of Kalutara who weave bamboo boxes in their
local market as most of them are traditional utility ware, spare time for the export of betel leaf under a programme
set up by the Export Development Board (de Zoysa and
but fetch very low prices. Hardly any products cater for
Vivekanandan, 1992). The survey also found that in-
the export market except for a few items which may be
creased training facilities in the last few years to promote
sold to tourists.
the craft among rural youth have resulted in a surplus of
It is also evident that patterns of use are undergoing rapid around 500 bamboo craft workers.
changes. A major trend being the substitution of basket-
Since the survey was limited to a certain income contribu-
ware made of 0. stridula and other natural materials with
tion, the industry is likely to be much more wide spread if
plastic products and the use of plastic strips for weaving.
households where the income contribution of less than a
The latter has the advantages of not displacing the need
third was considered. Furthermore in a macro survey such
for weaving skills, and temporarily reducing the pressure
on the natural material. This species is also used as a as the one cited, local activity at the village level often
goes unnoticed. To most women workers, the craft may be
cheaper and more available substitute for rattan for the
their only or major source of income which would greatly
making of basketware. Till recently culms of 0. stridula
increase its significance. The surplus of trained workers
were popular as support for bean-vines in vegetable grow-
ing areas. However, due to the increasing cost of procur- indicate that initiatives taken by the utilization sector are
not consistent with the resource shortage and other con-
ing them, the bamboo has been displaced by the reed
Arundo donax.
straints such as credit facilities and lack of marketing
channels.
Socio-economics Our present knowledge of the socio economics of the craft

supported by 0. stridula is very scanty despite the fact that
A recent survey of the handicrafl sector in Sri Lanka re- such information is central to planning all other aspects of
cords nearly 700 bamboo craft workers, whose earnings managing the resource and the industry. The need to
from the craft contribute at least one third of the family maintain existing opportunities for rural employment, es-
income (IRED, 1988). pecially for women, is more important than ever. But the
The craft is mainly based on 0. stridula except for a small dwindling craft community and the surplus of trained
minority of workers who use Bambusa vulgaris (Common workers are distressing indications that all is not well with
green and yellow bamboo) and spread over 8 administra- the industry. From a cultural point of view it is of interest
tive districts in the south west of the country (Figure 4). to study traditional craft communities before they disap-
pear completely. There is also no information available on
The results of the survey further show that as in other persons gathering and supplying raw material and selling
parts of South Asia ie. India, Bangladesh and Nepal the and marketing finished products.
bamboo craft was traditionally practiced by specific social
castes. This ancient caste system was centered around an
agricultural tradition and professions, such as basketry
Production
supplied the non farm consumer goods (Islam, 1987). The Forest Department of Sri Lanka is the main institu-
Many of these castes were of lowly social status and were tion that holds authority to issue permits for the harvest
poor and landless communities, The largest concentration and transport of bamboo. Vested with similar authority
of bamboo craft workers (32%) in Sri Lanka found in the are the Government Agents for the few forests which
District of Gampaha are such caste associated come under their purview. Although records exist there is
no computation of annual volumes permitted for harvest.
42
Illegal harvesting over and above the quantity permitted, sustainable levels of harvesting can be worked out easily.
outside the areas permitted or without permits is common. No attempt has been made yet to manage wild stands. On
There are no estimates of quantities illegally harvested on the contrary, forestry and plantation management practic-
a commercial scale or small scale harvesting by villagers es in the past have considered this bamboo a weed and en-
for daily use. The price of 0. stridula is escalating, mainly couraged its eradication (de Zoysa et al 1990). At present
because it has to be transported from greater distances and indiscriminate commercial harvesting by suppliers to craft
is a clear indication that wild stocks of bamboo are dwin- centers is common.
dling. But little is known about how much of this shortage
is created by over harvesting as against habitat destruction A discussion on conserving the species may appear rather
and due to the lack of organized supplies. Such informa- premature, especially since it is locally abundant and fa-
tion is vital if the bamboo is to be managed in a sustain- voured by disturbance. However the bamboo will be vul-
able manner. nerable if present trends of intensive harvesting and the
rapid reduction of the already fragmented rain forests con-
Harvesting techniques themselves are notoriously waste- tinues. The advantages of developing management guide-
ful, where only the young pliable culms are preferred for lines while the options are open are obvious, and has been
basketwork. The rejected mature culms are rarely used for reiterated in most tropical forest conservation literature
any other purpose. (Whitmore, 1991).
Recently however more mature culms are being used to Management also requires appropriate policy guidelines
make crude basketware for the tea industry. Processing is and the necessary legislative mechanisms. One of the ma-
very elementary, culms are scraped clean and split into jor set backs in the past has been a lack of co-ordination
thin strips, the size depending on the requirement of dif- between the resource managers and the utilization sector.
ferent products. The quality of the split bamboo and its There is little information exchange and hardly any col-
working qualities depend on the maturity of the stem, the laborative efforts. Legislation is an important area which
brittleness of the culms and the length of inter-nodes. So has received almost no attention. Forestry legislation deal-
far, no systematic studies have been done on this aspect. ing with bamboo or other non-timber forest produce is al-
most non-existent. Passing reference is made to these in
the Forest Ordinance which is amended from the Act of
Propagation and planting 1907 and is grossly outdated. More recent legislation such
Attempts to propagate 0. stridula with off-shoots have as that formulated under the craft sector ie. Craft Council
proved unsuccessful, the most effective propagation meth- Act of 1982 makes no reference to the conservation,
od has been by seed. The species appears to have an annu- propagation and the cultivation of the plant resource.
al flowering and fruiting cycle but individual clumps do
not flower annually. The fruits mature in small quantities
and are sensitive to drying. The seeds must be kept moist Conclusion
and sown immediately or potted directly. Germination Information collated on 0. stridula in the last few years
takes three weeks. The seedlings should be well watered has considerably increased our understanding of the plant
and given a relatively shaded environment. Off-shoots resource and the industry it supports. Nonetheless, there
start appearing within a few weeks and the seedlings are are major gaps, and an urgent need for more precise quan-
ready for planting within 2-3 months. Clumps can grow titative data. Some priorities for future research and devel-
up to 2-3 m high within two years. Knowledge on the opment are listed below:
phenology of the species is very scanty, accurate informa- 1. Information on socio-economic of the industry
tion is needed, and techniques developed for short term 2 . Extent of each use
storage of the species if propagation by seed is to be cost
3 . Estimates of permitted and illegal production
effective. 4 . Trial plantings and yield data
The species is relatively tolerant of nutrient poor soils, 5 . Methods for short term seed storage
and ideal for introducing into small holdings, home gar- 6 . Experimental management of natural stands
dens and diversifying plantations. It can be grown along 7 . Formulation of legislation
fences, boundaries, on eroding stream edges or steep and 8 . Community involved cultivation programmes
rock slopes. However, no trial plantings have been at- 9 . Taxonomic clarifications
tempted and hence no data is available on growth and Several major issues relevant for wider consideration has
yields. Any future planting programme should give prior- also emerged from the case of 0. stridula. Firstly, the pur-
ity to areas where the craft is practiced and actively in- pose of investigation of plant resource such as 0. stridula,
volve craft workers. is that it currently support an industry. Hence the real val-
ue of information gathered can only be assessed by its im-
pact on the industry ie. increased employment, a stable
Management and conservation and increasing income and the security of a steady supply
0. stridula is well suited for managing in the wild be- of raw material etc. What is evident from the information
cause it is still locally abundant in some areas. By con- available and on going research is its apparent lack of so-
trolled harvesting and measurement of regrowth, cial focus. Unless the socio-economics form the basis for
Ochlandra stidula Moon ex Thw. - a Profile 43

l
the studies on the plant resource, results will not be of real de Zoysa, N.D., and Vivekanandan, K., 1992. The bamboo
application value. and rattan cottage industry in Sri Lanka - livelihoods in
danger. Forest Department, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
The information available so far, is of a general nature. de Zoysa, N.D., Hettige, U.N. and Vivekanandan, K.,
This draws attention to the need for well structured and 1990. Some aspects of bamboo and its utilization in Sri
target oriented research that will produce accurate quanti- Lanka. In: Bamboo -current research, Eds. I.V. Ramanuja
Rao, R. Gnanaharan and
tative data both in the short term as well as longer term.
The urgency is great because the industry is dependent on C.B. Sastry. Kerala Forest Research Institute and IDRC,
Ottawa, pp 6-l 1.
management and policy decisions taken an available in-
formation and perceptions. Much of the delay of informa- Hooker, J.D. In: Trimen, H., 1900. A handbook to the flora
of Ceylon, 5:318-319.
tion collection has been due to the lack of collaboration
between the resource managers and the utilization IRED, 1988. Master plan for handicraft development in Sri
Lanka, Vol. I-5, Development innovations Network
agencies. (IRED), South-Asia regional Office Colombo and Ministry
Lastly, there is a critical need for evaluation of research of Rural Industrial Development, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
through the network, through a collaborative effort by sci- Islam, R., 1987. Ed.Rural industrialization and employ-
ment in Asia. ILO, Geneva and ARTEP, New Delhi.
entists in the region. This will guide country projects and
scientists to bring out good results with comparable in- Moon, A., 1835. Catalogue of the indigenous and exotic
plants growing in Ceylon, Colombo.
formation and also be time effective.
Rudall, P. and Dransfield, S., 1989. Fruit structure and de-
velopment in Dinochloa and Ochlandra (Graminae - Bam-
Acknowledgements busoideae). Annalas of Botany. 63:29-38.
I wish to thank Dr. K. Vivekanandan and Upeksha Het- Senaratne, S.D.J.E., 1956. The grasses of Ceylon. Ceylon
Government press, Colombo.
tige, of the Sri Lankan Bamboo/Rattan Research Project
for their help, Dr. Soejatmi Dransfield for useful discus- Soderstrom, T.R. and Ellis, R.P., 1988. The woody bam-
boo (Poacea: Bambuseae) of Sri Lanka: A morphological-
sions and Dr. Cherla Sastry for facilitating my continued anatomical study.Smithsonian contributions to botany,
involvement with bamboo research. 72:66-73.
Thwaites, G. K.H., 1864. Enumeratio plantarum Zeylaniae:
References an enumeration of Ceylon plants, with descriptions of new
and little known genera. 5:376.
Ashton, P.S. and Gunatilleke, C.V.S., 1987. New light on
the plant geography of Ceylon, I- Historical plant geogra- Whitmore, T.C., 1991. Tropical rain forest dynamics and
phy. Journal of Biogeography, 14: 249-285. its implications for management. In: Rain forest regenera-
tion and management Eds. A.Gomez-Pompa, T.C. Whit-
de Rosayro, R.A., 1961. Nature and origin of secondary more and M.Hadley, Man and the Biosphere series,
vegetation communities in Ceylon. Ceylon Forester, 5:23. Unesco, Paris and Parthenon Publishing Group, Carnforth
6:67-86.
Table 1: Employment details of the Ochlandra striduia based craft industry in Sri Lanka
No, of Ful rime Pal time

District Workers
, No. of families M e n Women Men Women . Income
Campaha 220 100 33 143 4 40 main source
Kalutara 40 10 10 30 30 substantial
Ratnapura 90 20 20 30 30 poor
Galle 15 10 2 3 6 4 insignificant
Matara 120 100 - 120 reasonable
Kandy 60 5 35 5 15 supplementary
KegalIe 20 15 inadequate
Kurunegala 120 30 40 10 60 10 fair
Total 685 250 100 230 255 104
Source - adapted from Master plan for Handicraft development in Sri Lanka IRED (1988).
44 Ochlandra stridula Moon ex Thw. - a Profile

Species description adapted from Soderstrom & Ellis (1989) and Rudall and Dransfield (I 989)
Short, slender culmed, shrubby, dark green bamboo, sometimes creeping. Culms reach a height of 4-6 m, are erect below and arched
above with tips bending over. Clumps dense with several culms crowded closely together. Rhizomes sympodial, pachymorph with a short
neck. Culms are soft, hollow, erect at first and then arching. Young culms light brown-maroon, sparsely covered with hairs, with a whitish
appearance. Mature culrns green, with a rough and gritty surface. Culm diameter 0.6-2cm. Culm walls thin, nodes not prominent but with a
circular band of whitish bloom. Culrns have up to 16 nodes with internodal lengths of 40 cm at mid-culm. Branching mid-culm upwards.
Young shoots greenish - purple. Apical part completely purple. Culmsheath greenish brown when young, leaf-like below, becoming orange-
brown to maroon at summit, 7 - 20 cm long 3-10 cm wide. Blade strongly reflexed, linear-lanceolate, 7.5-9 cm long, 1 cm wide, with later-
al expansions - 2.5 mm either side about 1/3 below attenuate apex, upper surface green, glabrous except for whitish short, hirsute, base
and summit, lower surface maroon, glabrous sheath with auricles, barbed oral setae, 7.5 mm long small and bristly. Culm sheaths stay semi-
detached, scrolled up, while blades fall of easily. leaf twigs 55-80 cm long, bearing 8-14 leaves, blades lanceolate tapering to an acuminate
apex, 24 cm long and 2.5-5 cm wide, glabrous, leaf blades maroon at the base with a thick petiole to 4 mm long auricles with oral setae. In-
florescence consist of pseudospikelets and can have all branches on a main culm in flower or occasional single leafy branches flowering.
Spikelets ovate, -3 cm long 5 mm wide with three transitional glumes, 1 lemma, 1 palea, 7 lodicules, 27 stamens, and 1 pistil. Stamens yel-
low (brown with green tip when mature), filaments filiform, free, basifixed and anthers opening by an apical pore; ovary glabrous. The ma-
ture fruit is ovoid, extending upwards into a long beak which represents a persistent style. The pericarp is hard and thick. The embryo has a
basal plumule and radicle, and a large scutellum that occupies the lower portion of the central ovarial cavity, the upper part occupied by
Figure 1: Ochlandra stirdula: a, leafy branch (x 0.5); b, culm-sheath in place (x 0.5); c, branch-
ing node (x 0.5); d, flowerin g branches (x 0.5); e, ‘mature fruit (x I); f, very young
seedling (x I), adapted from oderstrome and Ellis (1988)
Ochlandra stridula Moon ex Thw. -a Profile 45

I Northern lowlands
2 South
Southern
4 Foothills
Figure 2: Ochlandra stridula: natural distribution in Sri Lanka (Floristic zones from Ashton and
Cunatilleke, 1989)
Figure 3:The. fragmented rain forests in the south west of Sri Lanka inhabited by Ochlandra stridula
46 Ochlandra stridula Moon ex Thw. - a Profile

craft
Figure 4: The distribution of Ochlandra stridu/a based craft industry in the administrative districts
of Sri Lanka (adapted from the Master plan for handicraft development, IRED,1988)
Female
Figure 5: The proportions of men, women, part-time and full-time workers in the Ochlandra
stridu/a based craft industry in Sri Lanka
47
The Need for Conservation of Arundinaria alpina K. Schum

in Kenya and its Ecological Significance
Sigu, Gordon Onduru”
Excessive exploitation in the past coupled with mass

flowering and death, followed by destruction from wildlife
and serious failure of regeneration have all but decimated
The indigenous bamboo species in Kenya is Arundinuria
the resource. Therefore urgent conservation action is ne-
alpina K. Schum. This bamboo is a large woody rhizoma-
eded not only for restoration of habitat of bamboo in the
tous grass which thrives very well between 2,200 to 3,350
highlands of Kenya, but also for identification of in situ
metres above sea level. The species ecological range is
conservation reserves. A possible restoration measure is to
mainly the Aberdares and Mau ranges and mountains Ke-
carry out the extensive planting of the species, with the
nya, Elgon and Timboroa (Kaptagat) plateau. Smaller
active participation of the local population, who would
patches are found in Taita and Shimba Hills. The limited
eventually have stake in the development and utilization
ecological zone is a concern because haphazard exploita- of the bamboo resources.
tion of bamboo can easily result in depletion of this
important plant community. These zones used to support The area under bamboo forest is estimated to be 155,821
extensive bamboo crops until 1950’s when most of these ha. This area could even be less due to recent excision of
plantations were replaced with fast growing exotic soft- the forests for the Nyayo Tea Zone and continual extrac-
wood trees. Currently, the bamboo is an important and tion for Department use. Currently there is a ban on the
crucial forest type for water catchment ard soil conserva- cutting of bamboo in the whole country owing to the con-
tion in Kenya and occupies approximately 155,821 ha. siderable decline in the bamboo resource and as a result
the demand has been enormous.
The bamboo culm itself has provided for many uses in the
past and is still of potential use in the building and handi- Background information on the exact area, extent and
craft activities especially in tea zone farming. With these current status of this bamboo is limited. This makes their
important roles, there is need to have good primary eco- protection and management ultimately difficult.
logical information on the best exploitation and manage-
ment strategies likely to be of more benefit than when the The first bamboo research project in Kenya was initiated
bamboo crop is left unexploited. The remaining patches of in July 1987 with funds from IDRC. The objective of the
bamboo warrant more of conservation than exploitation. project was to select suitable regional and Asian bamboo
species for several ecological areas of Kenya and to devel-
op techniques for their mass propagation, establishment in
The situation and status the field and management protocols under local condi-
Between 1932 and 1943, investigations were carried out tions. The Phase II of this project has focused on mass
in the Aberdares and the surrounding bamboo stands. propagation study of planting stock of Arundinariaalpina.
This was done to find out satisfactory methods for felling
bamboo culms and subsequent regeneration after felling. Current management of Arundi-
The investigations were advantageously carried out before
much damage on the alpine bamboo ecosystem was in- naria alpina in Kenya
flicted. The stand densities are currently varied in struc- The life of a bamboo culm of A. alpine is 10 to 15 years.
ture and much disturbance have left the stands open, The number of culms per unit area over this period of
scattered and in patchy conditions (Kigomo, 1988). time remains constant (Kigomo, 1988). It has been gener-
ally observed that once a bamboo clump flowered and
produced seed it came to an end of its life and die after

seeding. Although Wimbush (1947) suggested that the Management of bamboo for soil
end of the life cycle of A. alpina may not always result in and water conservation
the complete death of the plant and a last minute vegeta- The emphasis on bamboo resource conservation is vital, as
tive vigour may occur. both soils and water are the basic resources on which agri-
culture depends, not withstanding that Kenya is an agri-
Flowering, seeding and dying back in alpine bamboo oc-
cultural country whose economy is agriculturally based.
curs gregariously in Kenya. Flowering of A. alpina occurs
The high population has pressurised the exploitation of
in patches of a half to five or more hectares (Kigomo,
our land, water and forest resources, causing inappropri-
1988). Sometimes this extends to cover tens of hectares of
ate cultivation of steep slopes, river banks and encroach-
bamboo forest at a time, but no case of any more extensive
gregarious flowering has been recorded. There is evidence ment of forests and water catchment areas.
that the life cycle of the alpine bamboo is more than 40 Vast areas of Kenyan highland mountain catchment areas
years in the Aberdare range in Kenya (Wimbush, 1945). It were cleared in 1940’s and 1950’s and replaced with exot-
is not however clear whether it is much longer or shorter ic softwoods. Pereira (1962) investigated the role of bam-
in other places where the species occurs. boo and exotic softwood crops in the conservation of
watersheds. He found that, although on the overall his re-
It has been found with A. alpina that on average,
sults indicated the consumption of water and interception
3600-4000 new culms per hectare are produced every
of rainfall of bamboo and softwood crops are about the
three years. A fully stocked stand of bamboo is normally
same, the overall efficiency of the two vegetations on the
on the average about 1200 culms per hectare. Full sized
conservation and provision of quality water on a long term
culms would take eight to nine years. Six to nine years
basis should be a more important criteria. It is important
must therefore be added to the recovery period at proper
that the soil mantle of catchment areas and water quality
cutting cycle for this bamboo species. This also implies
should be maintained during the life time of mankind. It
that cutting cycle will not be less than 8 plus 6 (14) years
seems this may not be the case particularly during forestry
and may be as long as 21 years on poor sites where recov-
operations in industrial plantations.
ery to normal full size is delayed (Wimbush, 1945).
Bamboo is very suitable in stabilising top soil and thus
An undisturbed crop of this species carries about 10,000
preventing soil erosion. Arundinaria alpina can be suit-
to 17,000 stems per hectare and can produce about 100
able for fragile ecosystems such as canal banks, steep ter-
tons of air dry weight of culms. Culm production is in- rain and riverine areas. The increasing need in the use of
fluenced by the amount of rainfall occurring during the
bamboo in the reafforestation programme of catchment
previous one or two years and drought may result in
and soil erosion prone areas has called for better under-
sparse production of culms (Kigomo, 1988).
standing of bamboo management, particularly in soil and
These short term investigations were attempted with the water conservation. Bamboo has fast and intensive rhi-
objective or acquiring useful information on the manage- zome development and can be used for soil stabilisation.
ment of natural stands of bamboo crops, and should be re- Preliminary studies have shown that this local species can
viewed and incorporated in the conservation strategies for be cultivated within its natural range and even below its
this species. natural altitudinal distribution, although its rate of growth
is slightly depressed in the latter sites. Successful cultiva-
tion of Arundinaria alpina in lower altitudes should help
Utilization of Arundinaria alpina in the conservation of degraded areas. No serious cultiva-
Uses of indigenous bamboo have mainly been confined to tion of bamboo has been undertaken in Kenya in the past.
local needs. Main uses are fencing of homesteads and There is need to cultivate bamboo so as to diversify the
farms. Split and whole culms are widely used in the con- supply base of our natural resources. The on-going de-
struction of residential houses, huts and farm granaries. struction of forest areas especially in the sub-tropical belts
Split culms of bamboo are used in the production of in many countries accompanied by an acute shortage of
handicrafts articles such as mats and various utility bas- timber has led to an increasing awareness of the multina-
kets. Recently, there has been increased use of bamboo in tional services which bamboo can provide. The effort to
making tooth picks. Bamboo are versatile in their uses conserve the bamboo would benefit from a greater aware-
and the need to cultivate the crop has been realised and ness in both environmental organizations and among the
cannot be over-emphasized. The greatest handicap to the general public of the importance of bamboo.
diversified utilization of the local bamboo resource in Ke-
nya, as opposed to cases commonly observed in tropical With the availability of resource, an up-to-date inventory
Asia, is the lack of motivated traditional skills. This can of the bamboo in Kenya should be made. The status of the
however be solved by training through exchange programs entire bamboo ecosystem should be highlighted in this in-
and incorporating the skills in groups handling similar ac- ventory report. After this, national bamboo management
tivities eg. women groups in basketry. can be framed on a larger scale.
These observations help to point out the ecological signifi-
cance of natural bamboo resource (in situ) in the
conservation of soil, water and protection of watershed (iv) The socio-economics and environmental aspects of
areas of Kenya. bamboo forestry in Kenya.
(v) The introduction of exotic bamboo species preferably
Management and conservation those that are more versatile in their uses, with adop-
strategies tion especially in the lower drier zones. As in the pro-
duction of natural tree forestry, this should help
There is urgent need to review the studies carried on earli- reduce pressure on this plant community.
er, that is stand carrying capacity, flowering, influence of
recovery on cutting cycle, influence of cutting intensity on
recovery and possibly the role of bamboo on soil and water
Conclusion
conservation. This information is very necessary for form- There is need to piotect and manage properly the remain-
ing a basis for the conservation and management of bam- ing bamboo resources for the future. A time has come to
boo in Kenya. However, these earlier researches are to be take this matter seriously and devise ways and means,
viewed aIongside other recommendations that there might some of which have been discussed, for the management
be from other researchers working on bamboo. This will of bamboo areas so that they are again brought back to
create room for future integration among people of similar productivity. If managed for sustained yield, the bamboo
interest in this field to produce a multidisciplinary man- forest can be a reliable source of goods and services. It has
agement strategy for all the bamboo forests in Kenya. been proven that if exploitation can be controlled and
Considerable furthur study should be geared towards: combined with the natural and artificial regeneration, a
productive bamboo forest can be restored.
(i) The development of appropriate propagation, nursery
and transplanting techniques, both in vivo and in vi-
tro methods should be included. References
Kigomo, B.N. 1988. Distribution, cultivation and research
(ii) The development of sound management systems for status of bamboo in East Africa. KEFRI, Ecol. Monograph
the maintenance of natural stands and plantation cul- I.
tivation of Arundinaria aipina. Pereira, H.C. 1962. The water balance of bamboo thicket
(iii)The understanding of morphology, anatomy and and of newly planted pines. E. Afr. Agr. For. J. 27,95-103.
physical, mechanical and chemical properties of this Wimbush, S.H. 1945. The African alpine bamboo. Emp.
species following various silvicultural treatments. For. J., Vol. 24(l), 23-39.
Wimbush, S.H. 1947. The African alpine bamboo. E. Afr.
For. J. 13, 56-60.
50 The Need for Conservation of Arundinaria alpina K. Schum in Kenya and its Ecological Signifficance
Remote Sensing Application in Bamboo Resource

Evaluation: a Case Study in Kerala
A. R. R. Menon*
Vegetation
The baseline information of natural resource is highly es- The vegetation exhibits considerable variation in floristic
sential for resource management. The gathering of basic composition and structure. In fact the floristic diversity is
information from the tropical forests is not an easy task. one of the criteria of study site selection, so as to accounf
On account of the synoptic coverage and quickness, re- the maximum variability in data interpretation. The major
motely sensed data are being used now for this purpose. forest types recognized in the area (Champion and Seth,
Remote sensing is of high importance in resource man- 1968) are viz. west coast tropical evergreen forests, west
agement of tropics, because of its ability to supply an coast semievergreen .forests, southern moist mixed de-
enormous quantity of information in the shortest possible ciduous forests, South Indian moist deciduous forests and
time. Its application and advancement depends on the ap- southern tropical dry deciduous forests.
proach of individual country for development and proper
use of available information. The mapping of land cover Data used
and land use pattern using remote sensing techniques of- The remote sensing data used for the present study are of
ten provides information of practical value in environ-
the following two major types:
mental planning and land development. Stratification of
vegetation cover with respect to structural features is high- A) Satellite imagery:
ly necessary for resource evaluation. The estimation of ac-
(i) LANDSAT 5 TM FCC of band 2,3 and 4 having
tual area of different cover types and that of different
scales of 1:1,45,000 and 1:2,50,000 of March
strata in each vegetation cover is the most crucial part in
1985;
resource evaluation. In the present study an attempt is
(ii) SPOT FCC of band 1, 2 and 3 of Mjultispectral
made to evaluate the potentiality of remote sensing data in
Mode (X3) having enlargement up to scale of
the estimation of bamboo resources and land cover map-
1:2,50,000.
ping of natural forests of tropical belt. The remote sensing
data in the form of large scale aerial photographs are used B) Aerial photographs (black and white) of the following
on experimental basis to stratify the bamboo area in the specifications; Scale: 1: 15,000; Camera: RMK 15/23;
natural forests of Western Ghats region, aiming the iden- Focal Length: 15.3 cm; Date of photograph: March/A-
tification and stratification of bamboo area with respect to pril 1986; Format size: 23 x 23 cm; Nature of print:
density and height classes. The area of different strata Glossy and single weight; Overlap: Forward - 60 to
thus delineated can be utilized for stock mapping along 80%, Lateral - 10 to 40%; Direction of flight: South to
with the supplementary phytosociological data obtained North; Film: Kodak XX Aerographic panchromatic
from various strata. black and white; Filter: D127956.
Study Area Methods

The study was conducted in Attappady region, adjacent to The visual interpretations of remote sensing data were
Silent Valley natural reserves. The area (11’05’ to done by standard remote sensing techniques. The photo
ll”08’N. Lat. and 76’31’ to 76’32’ E. Long.) lies in the stratification scheme was adopted using photo elements
Western Ghats region of tropical belt, in Palakkad district like Tone, Texture, Colour etc. In structural classification
of Kerala (India). The terrain is rugged and hilly. The scheme, three height classes viz. <15 m, 15 to 25 m and
elevation of the area ranges from 250 m to 1,700 m above >25 m were identified in aerial photographs and crown
MSL. The plains on the eastern part of the area are dry density was subdivided into five tentative classes as densi-
and warm almost throughout the year whereas the hills of ty class A, B, C, D and E; with percentage density of 5 to
western side are wet, warm and humid. 20, 2 1 to 40, 41 to 60, 61 to 80 and >80. Since the
bamboo were located in moist deciduous forests in the with their 3D effects will give better resolution for photo-
area, it was subdivided to three major types (Figure 1) as stratification of types. The height, density and species
(i) those without bamboo (MD), (ii) those with less than composition characters to the cover class are much more
50% bamboo coverage (MB) and (iii) those with more clear in aerial photographs than that of satellite imageries.
than 50% bamboo coverage (BM). Based on the visual ob-
servations of homogeneity and diversity, different stands A comparison was also made in the identification of the-
of major vegetation types were selected for quantification matic classes from satellite data and aerial .photographs.
procedure. Base map of the area was prepared in 1:25,000 Table 2 A cursory reference of this comparison will reveal
scale from Survey of India Toposheets and visually inter- the importance of aerial photographs in bamboo resource
preted data was carefully transferred to it for field check- evaluation. In visual interpretation techniques of satellite
ing. The prefield maps were further cross-checked in the data, the colour and tone are the two important elements
field (spot checking) for accuracy evaluation and fair map used to characterise the vegetation classes in FCC. Other
prepared (Figure 1). The estimation of bamboo area was photo elements such as texture, association etc are also
done by dot grid method using 0.2 mm dot grid. used wherever necessary. Broad categories of forest types
alone can be differentiated in satellite data. Hence for gen-
Results and discussion eral reconnaissance study this data can be used, but for de-
tailed mapping and stock evaluation it is of limited use.
The area of -different cover classes as per aerial photo
maps and satellite imageries were worked out and the ac- Above all, the use of remote sensing data of the correct
curacy was evaluated. The overall accuracy level in the season is more vital in visual interpretation techniques.
case of mapping by large scale black and white aerial pho- The tonal and textural variations of bamboo during flow-
tographs was found to be of 90% and that of satellite ering season is yet another tool for proper identification of
imageries are of 70%. The area estimates along with the bamboo areas. The observations made on the ground ster-
sampled information by list count quadrat method eograms of the bamboo area reveal that the bamboo
(Oosting, 1958) from various bamboo strata will sub- patches are more or less stellate in appearance. This stel-
stantiate the resource stock information at a given time. late nature can be clearly observed in large scale aerial
The study also reveals that one can use the large scale ae- photographs. Thus large scale aerial photographs are ideal
rial photographs conveniently for stock mapping of bam- for bamboo resource evaluation.
boo in tropical regions. Since there is clear tonal variation
in aerial photographs, the areas with and without bamboo
can be delineated with less effort. Similarly bamboo densi- References
ty variation is reflected in textural element of image inter- Champion, H.G. and Seth, S.K. 1968. A revised survey of
pretation (Table 1). Further the textural variation is more forest types of India. Manager of Publications, New Delhi.
400 p.
clear in large scale aerial photographs (Tomar and Mas-
leker, 1972) and this feature was used in identification of Oosting, H.J. 1956. The study of plant communities. W.H.
Freeman, San Francisco.
bamboo density level in the present study. With regard to
other land cover classes, marked differences in tone, tex- Singh, Ashbindu, 1987. Spectral separability of tropical
forest cover class. Int. J. Remote Sensing 8 : 971-979.
ture and patterns were observed. It was possible to identify
even minor variations within a cover class, thus three Singh, Ashbindu, 1988. A forest cover classification sys-
types of moist deciduous forests; three height classes and tem using remotely sensed data. Indian For. 114 :
128-l 35.
five density classes in each cover types were identified.
Tomar, M.S. and Masleker, A.R. 1972. Aerial photographs
Such type of information play crucial role in resource for landuse and forest survey. Survey of India.
evaluation and stock estimation. The aerial photographs
52 Remote Sensing Application in Bamboo Resource Evaluation: a Case Study in Kerala

Bamboo in the Asia Pacific Proceeding 4th International Bamboo Workshop, 1991
Table 1: Image interpretation key for interpretation of large scale (1:15,000) panchromatic (B &
W) aerial photographs
Sl.No. Cover type and Symbol Tane Texture Pattern/Remarks

1 Evergreen forests (EF) Black Fine Smooth
2 Moist deciduous forests (MD) Greyish Medium Medium
3 Moist deciduous forests with less Grey with Medium Rough
than 50% bamboo coverage (MB) white
4 Moist deciduous forests with more Crey with Coarse Rough
than 50% bamboo cover (BM) white
5 Dry deciduous forests (DD) Black Coarse Rough
6 Scrubs (SC) Grey Coarse Rough
7 Plantations:
- rubber (PR) Black Fine Smooth
- teak (PT) Light grey Medium Arrangement is seen in young
plantations
- eucalyptus (PE) Greyish Medium Medium
- coconut (PC) Dark grey Medium Arrangement is seen (Stellate)
8 Agriculture (A) Whitish grey - Shape, size, location, association etc. are
considered
9 Forest blanks (B) Light grey - Shape, size, location, association etc. are
considered
10 Exposed rock (X) Light grey - Shape, size, location, association etc. are
considered
11 Habitation (H) White - Shape, size, location, association etc. are
considered
12 Water bodies (W) Dark black - Shape, size, location, association etc. are
considered
Table 2: Comparison of major thematic classes on satellite data and aerial photographs
sl.No. Thematic Class Satellite data(FCC) Aerial Photograph (B & W) Remarks

1 Evergreen No additional information on AP’s
2 Moist deciduous 2 density classes 3 type classes and 5 density classes Bamboo areas could not be iden-
forests (< 20% greenness (<50% bamboo cover, >50% bam- tified on satellite data, whereas 3
and >20% boo cover, those without bamboo, additional classes were distinct on
greenness) 5-20% density, 21-40% density, AP’s
4l-60% density, 61-80%, density and
more than 80% density
3 Scrubs 2 Classes (Scrubs, - One additional class on satellite
dense) data
4 Dry deciduous 2 Classes (<30% 3 density classes (5-20%, 21-40%, One additional class on AP’s
forests density, > 30% 41-60%)
density)
5 Plantations 2 Classes (rubber, 6 Classes (rubber, mixed, teak, euca- 6 categories of individual planta-
mixed) lyptus, cashew, coconut) tions and two age groups (old and
young) could be identified on
AP’s. Teak less than 5 m height
can also be identified.
6 Agriculture Often mixed with fal- Identified Pure a riculture land could be
low land separa le from fallow land
7 Habitation Not identified Identified Only large habitations could be
identified in satellite data
8 Water bodies Identified Identified No additional information on AP’s
9 Exposed rocks Identified Identified No additional information on AP’s
10 Forest blanks Identified Identified No additional information on AP’s
Remote Sensing Application in Bamboo Resource Evaluation: a Case Study in Kerala 53

Prepared from 1:1 5,000 (black and white)

aerial photographs
MAP SCALE 1:25,000
_EGEND
LAND COVER TYPE CLASSES

Evergreen forests - EF
Moist deciduous forests
- Without bamboos -MD

- With < 50% bamboo cover -MB
- With > 5 0 % bamboo cover - BM
Scrub - SC
Plantations
-Young <5 mht - Y

- Old >5 mht - 0
- Rubber - PR
- Teak - PT
- Coconut - PC
Agriculture -A
Forest blanks -B
Exposed rocks -X
Habitation - H
DENSITY CLASSES
5 -20% -A
21-40% -B
41 -60% -C
61-80% - D
>81% -E
HEIGHT CLASSES
<15 m -1
15-25m - 2
> 25 m - 3
ANNOTATION
MD/2B = Forest cover/height class/density class
Figure 1: Vegetation map of Attappady Region (Kerala) showing bamboo area
54 Remote Sensing Application in Bamboo Resource Evaluation: a Case Study in Kerala

GIS on Bamboo Distribution in Kerala

P.Vijayakumaran Nair*
4
Absrtact
This paper deal with the importance of bamboo and reeds with reference to the Kerala State; gives a brief
introduction to Geographical information System (Gis) and status of bamboo and reeds for domestic pur-
poses and as an industrial raw material. Bambusa arundinacea and Ochlandra travancorica, the two economi-
cally most important species have different flowering cycles,climatic requirements, biotic disturbances and
extraction pressures.The quantity of reeds and bamboo consumed annually by the industry show much fluc-
tuation due to several factors. Past and present data si being compiled into a Database format .Bambusa
arundinacea from forest is used for pulp making and the same from homesteads for domestic use.Ochlan-
dra travancorica comes exclusively from forest and is used in the pulp and dcottage industries. A vector
based GIS woule be ideal for storing the data on bamboo because of the patchy distribution of the resource
and the oblong shape of the State.Several types of data such as administrative units,their area,rainfall,
maps,vegetation type,land use and bamboo distribution are for the time being sorted in a CDS/SIS Data-
base,Administrative divisions are being digitised in terms of latitude/longitude coordinates and stored in
files.The same is used for generating distribution maps through a Pascal programme.
Sources of information
Introduction The Forest Resources Survey described the status of bam-
Several species of tree grasses, bamboo, play an important boo and reeds in every forest Division (Chandrasekharan,
role in the economy of Kerala. Some members belonging 1973). The industry oriented management plan also ex-
to the genus Ochlandra are locally called as reeds. This amines availability of reeds as an industrial raw material
paper deals with the importance of bamboo and reeds with (Asari, 1976). Prasad and Gadgil (1982) examine several
reference to Kerala State, gives a brief introduction to aspects of bamboo ecology. Krishnan Kutty (1991) esti-
Geographical Information System (GIS) and status of mate the quantity of bamboo available in domestic home-
bamboo and reeds for domestic purposes and as an indus- steads and Muktesh Kumar (1991a) examine the
trial raw material. Peculiarities of storing data on bamboo ecological and botanical parameters affecting reeds.
in a GIS are discussed.
GIS
Bamboo
Geographical information systems are data bases in which Species involved
data are stored with relation to spatial coordinates like Kumar (1991b) reports 29 species of bamboo and reeds
latitude and longitude. In addition to generating informa- under 13 genera from Kerala. The region wise distribution
tion pertaining to specific queries, the status of a particu- of the bamboo is being compiled under a subproject of the
lar item in a specific geographic area can be generated, IDRC project on bamboo. Of the six species of Ochlandra
overlayed, combined or filtered with another similar data reported from Kerala, Ochlandra travancorica occurs in
set. Geographical information systems become powerful all Divisions. 0. scriptoria also has a wide distribution in
tools in management of natural resources because based nine Forest Divisions. 0. beddomii was found in three Di-
on available data, prediction models can be generated. The visions (Konni, Nemmara and Quilon). 0. sivagiriana (in
gregarious flowering of many of the species under consid- Chalakudy and Kothamangalam Divisions) and 0. wightii
eration slightly complicates the analysis. (in Achancoil and Thenmala Divisions)were found in two
Divisions each. 0. setigera was found only in Nilambur
Bamboo and reeds (Figure 1). Four forest Divisions had four species of reeds,
From the point of view of utilisation, Bambusa arundina- four Divisions had three species of reeds and four Divi-
cea and Ochlandra travancorica are the most important sions had one species of reed (Figure 2). The distribution
species in Kerala. Bambusa arundinacea is the thorny data exist at this time as specimen collection point sam-
bamboo found almost throughout Kerala in the forest as ples. Survey of extent of the species in the particular area
well as in domestic home steads. It has several uses for is intended under the project. For other genera even this
making ladders, for scaffolding, poles, fencing and for level of information is not available. Work is in progress
making paper. Dendrocalamus strictus which needs a dry for documenting these details under a subproject of the
climate is found only in very small patches in places like IDRC project.
Chinnar and Wynad. Ochlandra travancorica is the com-
mon reed found in the semievergreen and evergreen fo- Bamboo uses
rests of Kerala. It grows in dense patches in cleared land Bamboo are used mainly in three ways.
and is used for paper making and weaving baskets. Sever-
al other reeds are treated the same way by users.
1) Industrial use, for making pulp in paper and rayon in- bamboo and reeds annually. More than half of this is
dustries. Bamboo posses long fiber and are used for Bambusa arundinacea, about l/3 of which goes for do-
mixing with wood based pulp. nestic consumption. Among the industrial consumers,
2) For weaving baskets. These baskets are used for pack- Gwalior Rayons use mostly Bambusa arundinacea,
ing materials. Woven mats are also used for making whereas the Punalur Paper Mills and Hindustan News-
room dividers, and in recent times for making bamboo- print use reeds. Another significant attempt in quantifica-
ply, a compressed, glued plywood like material. ion of bamboo resources is the work of Krishnan Kutty
(199 1); in which the production of the bamboo in home-
3) For household requirements, for making ladders, roof- &ads is examined.
ing and shed construction, as poles in construction
work, banana support, fencing etc.
Flowering
Bamboo and reeds are obtained mainly from forested
areas. Many homesteads also contain clumps of bamboo. Many species of bamboo flower at the end of their life
cycle and die away. Bambusa arundinacea is known to
Plantation of bamboo have been attempted in few places
Rower once in about 40 years (Prasad, 1981). Gamble
by the Forest Department but the area under such is very
small. Bamboo are not intentionally planted as a crop in (1979) describes Ochlandra travancorica flowering once
domestic land, though the changing price return factor in seven years. Field observations do not agree with this.
may change this in course of time. Prasad (198 1) lists about 25 flowering dates from Kerala
for Bambusa arundinacea. Flowering had occurred almost
1) For the industrial use, the bamboo come almost entirely uniformly throughout the past 100 years in the case of
from forests. Almost all the bamboo legally extracted Bambusa arundinacea and Dendrocalamus strictus when
from the forests go to the industry. Demand for bam- India as a whole is considered. Additional flowering data
boo raw material is on the increase year by year, and from Kerala is being compiled under this project.
the pressure in likely to increase when new industrial
units are started. Availability of bamboo from the for-
est is affected by factors like decline in natural regen-
GIS - technical aspects
eration due to fire and grazing. Reduction in forest ln a computer based GIS, geographic data are represented
area due to submersion of area under water and mak- as points, lines and areas or as attributes of grids. The data
ing of plantations also affect growth of bamboo. may be stored at a high level of detail and then plotted at a
more general level and at a different scale.
2) Most of the reeds for weaving come from forest areas.
There an agency, the Bamboo Corporation, collects Major components
and distributes bamboo to the workers. About 20% of
reeds collected from the forests go for this purpose. The information for a geographic feature has four major
Though the percentage is less, it supports a large num- components, its geographic position, its attributes, its spa-
ber of workers. The number of persons involved in tial relationships and location.
this, one may say remains static. Increasing use of Location
bamboo mats for laminated products is likely to be a
factor that may bring about a change in the quantity The locations are recorded in terms of a coordinate system
used or number of persons employed in this sector. like the latitude/longitude system. Some data may be accu-
rate with in meters while other data may be accurate to
3) Bambusa arundinacea regenerates in unattended lands 100 meter
due to favorable climate conditions. Sometimes it is
also grown as an intercrop. These culms are mainly Attribute
used for household purposes and in building The second characteristic of geographic data are their at-
construction. tributes. For example a feature might be a forest stand. Its
attributes might include the species composition, average
status tree height, crown closure and the date it was logged.
The quantity of bamboo and reeds estimated required by Relationship
the user agencies, the Gwalior Rayons, Hindustan News- The third character of geographic data is spatial relation-
print Ltd., the Punalur Paper Mills and others is shown in ship. In a map these relations are entities to a person look-
Figure 3. For industrial use the proportion of bamboo and ing at a map but in a computer based GIS relationships
reed required and the proportion mixed with wood varies must be expressed in a computer usable manner. Only
to some extent with availability of raw material. Prolonged some of the spatial relations can be explicitly defined in a
labor strikes and layoff make the projections meaningless GIS, the reminder is either calculated as needed or is not
for some units. The State requires about 300,000 tonnes of available.
56 GIS on Bamboo Distribution in Kerala

Table 1: Comparison of Rastor and Vector model
sl.No. Rastor Model Vector Model

It is a simple data structure, but less compact. Often data com- More compact data structure. A digitiser is a must
pression may have to be done data can be input from tables or for inputing maps.
From gridded maps directly. Quad representation permits display
in data at desired level, easily identification of nearest neighbor
but file maintenance is more time consuming.
Easy to implement overlay operations. More suited for net work analysis.
Easy to represent high spatial variability. But accuracy of area es- More closely approximate graphics that closely
timation depend on cell resolution. approximates hand drawn maps. The extra effort
is worthwhile because results obtained are very
accurate.
Manipulation and enhancement of digital images possible. It is better to separate digital image analysis and
GIS, classified images can be input into the GIS.
Topological relations are more difficult to represent using large In powerful computers topological searches are
number of cells to get smooth outline may result in very large also feasible.
file.
Edges and lines in maps would appear ragged. Maps can be cropped and printed to any scale.-
There will not be any stairs case effects.
Time GIS implementation

Time may be an important factor in some types of data. Several types of data such as administrative units, their
The history of a forest patch may be important. area and their maps, rainfall, vegetation type, land use,
etc. are being stored in CDS/ISIS Database. This text
The Rastor model and the Vector model based Database programme has been found to be ideal for
There are two fundamental approaches to the representa- storing data of unpredictable length and repeating fields.
tion of the spatial component of a geographic information- The extensive indexing and query facility of the pro-
:the Vector model and the Rastor model. On the Vector gramme has been useful for retrieving required items.
model every position in the map space has a unique coor- This data will be transferred to a full fledged GIS package
dinate value. Points, lines and polygons are used to repre- in the course of the project. The lack of graphical interface
sent irregularly distributed geographic objects. In the of CDS/ISIS is being compensated through a Pascal pro-
Raster model the space is regularly subdivided into cells gramme which accepts digitised map files and displays
(usually square in shape). Location of geographic objects status of variables under consideration.
or conditions is defined by the row and column position of
the cells they occupy. The position of a geographic feature References
is only recorded to the nearest cell. Run length encoding, Asari, S. 1976. Industry oriented management plan for
quad-tree representation are used to compress Raster data. reeds. 1977-1978 to 1991-1992. Kerala Forest
In the Vector model, sphagetti models and topological Department.
models are available. In the later, many spatial analysis, Chandrasekharan, C. 1973. Forest resources of Kerala.
such as contiguity and connectivity analysis can be done, Kerala Forest Department.
largely, if not entirely using the topological data alone. ie Gamble, J.S. 1979. The flora of Presidency of Madras. Bi-
time consuming computation of spatial coordinates can be shen Singh Mahapal Singh, Dehra Dun.
avoided, but changing or updating can be time consuming. Krishnan Kutty, 1991 Market study of Bamboo and reed.
In: Bamboo India. Final Technical report. Kerala Forest
Attribute data is often stored in a relational DBMS struc- Research Institute. Peechi.
ture. Instead of storing different maps, data for different Kumar, M. 1991 a. Rare and endangered bamboo. Paper
elements are stored with minimum redundancy and then presented at symposium on rare, endangered and endem-
maps are generated when required. In the hybrid approach ic plants of the Western Ghats. Kerala Forest Department,
the non-spatial data is stored in a commercially available Trivandrum.
DBMS (e.g. ARC/INFO). Kumar, M. 199lb. Distribution and ecology of bamboo
reeds. In: Bamboo India. Final Technical report. Kerala
Forest Research Institute. Peechi.
Prasad, S.N. and Gadgil, M. 1981. Conservation of Bam-
boo resources of Karnataka. A technical report of Working
group on Bamboo resources constituted by Karnataka
STEC, Bangalore.
GIS on Bamboo Distribution in Kerala 57

I
m tools
Ot
Cattle stays
use hold (Bj
60
t-louse constn.
-----
HNP (R) 20
70
Bamboo (B) Reeds (R) Bamboo household use based on peak consumption rates
Figure 3: Consumption pattern of reeds and bamboo
AREAS
Figure 4: Division wise status of Bambusa Figure 5: Percentage of reeds available in differ-
arundinacea ent Divisions
GIS on Bamboo Distribution in Kerala 59

Availability, Distribution of Bamboo and

its Industrial Status in Peninsular Malaysia*
Abd. Latif Mohmod & Abd. Razak Othman**
mainly to the needs of the agriculture sector. This is still

the situation but to a different degree. Among the products
Bamboo is a perennial grass belonging to the sub-family are basket for transporting greens, poultry and hogs. The
Bambusoidae of the family Graminae (Holtum, 1959). It is industry which produces these products is purely cottage
a secondary forest species and considered to be a fast as well as part time in nature, where the work force com-
prises mostly rural housewives and children who work
growing and high yielding renewable resource. It is the
during their free time to supplement the family income.
second most important non timber resource and ranked
The machine intensive bamboo industry, comparatively, is
third after timber and rattan (Aminuddin & Abd. Latif,
1991). well organised and hence has more efficient use of labour
and supply of raw material are assured. About US
Peninsular Malaysia has 50 bamboo species of which 25 $100,000.00 worth of machine intensive bamboo products
are indegenous while the rest are known only in cultiva- are exported annually (Anonymous, 1989).
tion (Wong, 1989). All the bamboo species are grouped
under 10 genera namely Bambusa, Chusquea (cultivated), Objectives
Dendrocalamus, Dinochloa, Gigantochloa, Phyllostachys
(cultivated), Racemobamboos, Schizostachyum, Thrysos- This paper provides some information on the distribution
tachys (cultivated) and Yushania (cultivated). Of the total of the commercial bamboo species particularly and de-
species, only about 13 are commercially utilized while the tailed information on the industry with respect to its de-
rest are left idle in their habitat with lack of knowledge on velopmental activities.
their properties and potential usage. The commercially
utilized bamboo species, their distribution, uses and culm Methodology
characteristics are given in Table 1.
Bamboo is commonly found in quantities in areas that are
Bamboo: availability and distribution
disturbed such as logged over forest, degraded land or in In this study, data from the Forest Inventory for Peninsu-
marginal localities fringing the forest, river banks and hill lar Malaysia in 1988 was utilised. A ground survey was
sides. Even though the bamboo resources are abundant, also conducted concurrently by the Rattan and Bamboo
there are almost no pure natural bamboo stands or planta- Agroforestry Unit of FRIM from 1988 to 1990. The inven-
tion in Peninsular Malaysia. Despite current strong inter- tory returns provide the best basis to date for preliminary
est in bamboo, planting initiative and its acceptance as a mapping of the most distinctive type of the bamboo spe-
potential alternative to timber in the near future, very little cies included.
is known on its distribution patterns within the country.
Detailed data on the relationship of bamboo species and Bamboo industry
their localities within the natural range and potential The survey was conducted by the Smale Scale Develop-
sources of this material for provenance trial, however, is ment Unit (SSDU) of FRIM in a three year programme
necessary for an effective bamboo domestication from January 1988 to December 1990. Information on the
programme. manufacturers and their activities was gathered from the
Although the bamboo industry has existed since the 50’s, questionaires which include factory background, raw ma-
its activities are confined to traditional products, serving terial supply and production capacity.
mainly the limited local market (Abd. Latif & Ashaari,
1991). The machine intensive bamboo industry has only
been introduced in the last five to six years as the industry
adapts to the market demand for more value added bam-
boo products such as disposable chopsticks and skewers.
Prior to this, commercial exploitation of bamboos catered
(Federal Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Author-

Results and discussion ity) and state government rural development schemes. The
Malaysian Forestry Department classifies bamboo into two
Bamboo growth and distribution groups namely Betong of the Gigantochloa species and
Depending on the species, bamboo grows in areas from non-Betong (respective diameter of more and less than 5
sea level to as high as 3,000 m. They thrive best on well cm). While the royalty for the non-betong is about three to
drained sandy to clay loam or from underlying rocks with four cents per 6 metre, the betong group command better
a pH of 5.0 - 6.5 (Abd. Razak et al., 1990). The distribu- prices (average royalty of 8 to 10 cents per culm). The
tion of the commonly exploited indegenous bamboo spe- most common bamboo extracted for the consumption of
cies is presented in Figure 1. They are mostly local industries annually was found to be G. scortechinii
concentrated in the north-west of Peninsular Malaysia, (about 70%) followed by D. pendulus (about 20%) and G.
particularly in the eight following areas: wrayi, S. grande, S. zollingerii and G. ligulata (the total
1. Nami-Pedu-Sik-Baling area in Kedah
of 10%).
Common species : G. scortechinii The royalties collected from bamboo in 1980 to 1987 are
Other speciesG. ligulata, G. wrayi, S. grande and presented in Table 2. The data show that the amount of
S. zollingerii annual royalty collected was the highest in Perak (about
2. Kroh-Grik area in Perak 44%) followed by Kedah (33 %), Johor (l0%), Selangor
Common species : G. scortechinii (8 %), Perlis and Pahang (about 2% each).
Other species S. zollingerii, D. pendulus and S.
grande In order to visualize the growth in bamboo trade and esti-
mated culm productions, it is imperative to translate the
3. Jeli-Gua Musang in Kelantan royalty collected into volume. By taking the average royal-
Common species : G. scortechinii ty collected within 1980-1987 (based on average royalty of
Other species : D. pendulus and S. grande three cents per culm), the production of culm and its dry
4. Cameron Highland-Kuala Lipis in Pahang weight (180 culms equivalent to 1 tonne dry-weight) can
Common species : G. scortechinii be estimated (Table 2).
Other species : D. pendulus and S. grande
The amount of culm dry weight as calculated from the
5. Tapah-Slim-Behrang in Perak bamboo taxation (Table 3) is far lower than the volume
Common species : G. scortechinii estimated by Abd. Latif (1987) and Abd. Razak & Abd.
Other species : 5’. grande Latif (1988). This could be due to the fact that the royalty
6. Ulu-Selangor-Ulu langat-Kuala Klawang- collected varied depending on the state and size of the
Bentong area in Selangar and Pahang bamboo culms. While Kedah, for instance, imposed three
Common species : G. scortechinii to four cents taxation per bamboo culms, almost no royalty
0 t her species G. wrayi, S. grande and D. was charged in the state of Kelantan.
pendulus
7. Moakil Forest Reserve In Johor Distribution of the bamboo industry
Common species : D. pendulus The distribution and location of the machine intensive
Other species : S zollingerii bamboo-based industries are presented in Table 4 and Fig-
8. Other minor areas ure 2. Of the 297 mills surveyed, 205 or 69 percent of
a. Mata Ayer Forest Reserved in Perlis. them were engaged solely in vegetable-basket making. A
Common species : G. ligulata total of 51 mills (17.2 percent) were involved in producing
Other species : S. zollingerii and G. scortechinii crafts and novelty items, 34 mills (11.4 percent) in man-
b. Bukit Ibam-Rompin in Pahang. ufacturing utensil products such as skewers and chop-
Common species : G. scortechinii sticks, 4 furniture-making mills (1.3 percent) while the
c. Hulu Terengganu in Terengganu. other 3 mills (1.0 percent) were engaged in the production
Common species : G. scortechinii, D. pendulus and of joss paper.
Gigantochloa species
d. Lebir Forest Reserved in Kelantan. The mills were concentrated in five states viz. Perak
Common species: Gtgantochloa sp. and D. pendulus (73.1%), Negeri Sembilan and Pahang (5.4% each), Se-
langor/ Federal Territory (4.7%) and Johor (4.0 %). This
Availability and estimated production is due to the bamboo resources which are mainly concen-
trated within these areas (Figure 1). While the majority of
Bamboo are obtained by gatherers who are mostly Malays
the non-bumiputera mills were predominantly located in
and the Orang Ash. These gatherers are normally given
Perak (93.4%), the bumiputera-owned mills were scat-
the right to extract bamboo in gazetted lands particularly tered all over the country particularly in Negeri Sembilan
the logged-over forest areas where these materials are
(18.3%), Pahang (16.9%), Johor (4.0%), Selangor/ Feder-
found in abundance. Other sources of these materials are
al Territory (12.7%) and Terengganu (9.9 %).
river banks, hill sides and ridge tops; from land under the
FELDA (Federal Land Development Authority), FELCRA
Availability, Distribution of Bamboo and its industrial Status in PeninsularMalaysia 61

Bamboo in Asia

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IDRC

(Cover photo by Dr. Songkram Thammincha)

Proceedings 4th International Bamboo Workshop on

international Development Research Centre

Advisory Group for FORSPA

Mr. Wang shiji Dr. G. Stocker Dr. M.K. Muthoo

Bamboo resources in Thailand: how much do we know? 1

Session 2: Growth, Physiology and Genetics

The flowering of bamboo: fallacies and facts 68

The sustainability of bamboo supply in Peninsular Malaysia 87

Session 4: Plantation Technology

Studies on seed germination, seedling growth and nursery management of 113

Effect of age on the physio-mechanical properties of some Philippine bamboo 180

Session 7: Bamboo as an Engineering Material

The future of bamboo 278

Session 8: Pests, Disease and Detioration

Diseases of bamboo: a world perspective 323

Session 9: Information and Technology Dissemination

Information for bamboo research: to establish a database complex: China 336

Session 10: Socio-Economics and Marketing

Bamboo in Malaysia: past, present and future research 349

We wish to acknowledge with thanks contributions made by Professors Songkram

C.T.S. Nair Cherla Sastry

Cherla B Sastry C.T.S Nair

Proceedings 4th International

Bamboo Resources in Thailand:

Introduction Bamboo species

4 Bamboo resources in Thailand: How Much Do We Know?

*Text accompanying poster display at Symposium **Herbarium Bogoriense, Puslitbang Biologi-LIPI,Bogor,Indonesia

6 Endemic Barnboo From Sumatra

Exploring Bamboo Germplasm in Sumatra, Indonesia

flowering in 1991. The other three unidentified species

8 Exploring Bamboo Germplasm In Sumatra Indonesia

Exploring bamboo germplasm in sumatra indonesia 9

in Sumatra and is followed by Jambi and West Sumatra

10 Exploring Bamboo Germplasm In Sumatra indonesia

6 Gigantochloa sp.1 + -I- + + I

Exploring Bamboo Germplasm In Sumatra Indonesia

14 Exploring Bamboo Germqdasm In Sumatra indonesia

Five Genera of Bambusoideae (Gramineae)

Introduction The five genera

Five genera of Bambusoldeae(Gratnineae) Recently discovery in Yunnan, China

Table 1: List of Chiimnocalamus species and their distribution

C burmaensis (C.S. Chao et Renoize)

*Karyotpofthespecies: 2n=4x=48=15m (SAT) + 8sm (SAT) + 1st

16 Five genera of Bambusoideae (Gramineae) recently discovered in Yunnan, China

Table 2: Qiongzhuea species and their distribution

Table 3: Geographical distribution of Monocladus

S pecies Province Elevation

Five genera of Bambusoideae (Gramineae) recently discovered in Yunnan, China 17

Ochlandra (Bamboo Reed) a Vanishing Asset of

Ochlandra beddomeii Gamble is another species found

Ecological status of reed forests Secondary formations

Ochlandra (Bamboo Reed) a Vanishing Asset of Forests in Kerala -South India 19

Growing stock Though there is a shortfall in the supply for industries,

20 Ochlandra (Bamboo Read) a Vanishing Asset of Forests in South India

Ochlandra (Bamboo Reed) a Vanishing Asset of Forests in Kerala -South India

22 Ochlandra (Bamboo Reed) a Vanishing Asset of Forests in Kerala - South india