Melocalamus compactiflorus (Kurz) Benth.
Gramineae
Distribution From Bangladesh and Burma (Myanmar) to Thailand, Vietnam and southern Yunnan (China). For map click: Map523.TIF.
Uses Culms are used for making crude baskets.
Observations Scrambling, densely tufted bamboo. Culm 10-15 m tall, slightly zig-zag, diameter 1.5 cm, wall relatively thick; internodes 20-30 cm long. Culm sheath covered with white powder when young; blade broadly triangular, erect first then deflexed; auricles relatively large with long bristles. Leaf blade 10-30 cm x 4-6 cm. Inflorescence borne on a leafless branch; pseudospikelets crowded at each node, 3-5 mm long; spikelet containing 2 florets. Caryopsis (fruit) subglobular or rounded, 1-3 cm in diameter, pericarp thick and fleshy. Growing wild in evergreen or secondary forest up to 1700 m altitude, and also in open clearings in north-eastern Thailand. M. compactiflorus is potentially of interest also for other South-East Asian countries.