黄竹 huang zhu

Bambusa membranacea (Munro) Stapleton & N. H. Xia.

Culms 8–15 m, 7–10 cm in diam.; internodes 34–42 cm, initially thinly white powdery, becoming glossy; wall thick to thin. Branches from culm base, 3 to several, subequal, main mid-culm ones 3, central not dominant. Culm sheaths deciduous, initially orange-green, elliptical to oblong, usually longer than internodes, papery, margins ciliate; auricles small; oral setae short; ligule 8–10 mm, serrulate; blade reflexed, linear-lanceolate, 30–40 × 2–3 cm. Leaf sheaths initially sparsely hairy, becoming glabrous; ligule short, serrulate; blade lanceolate, 12.5–25 × 1.2–2 cm. Pseudospikelet clusters dense, 2.5–5 cm in diam., prophylls broad, 2-keeled. Spikelets 8–15 mm, glabrous; fertile florets 2–5. Glumes 2 or more, 8–9 mm, long mucronate; lemma 9–10 mm, apex long mucronate; palea 7–8 mm. Anthers yellow or purple, 4–5 mm, apex apiculate. Ovary turbinate; style 5–6 mm; stigma purple. Caryopsis 6–8 mm.

River valleys to hilly forested areas; 500–1000 m. S Yunnan [Laos, Myanmar, N Thailand, N Vietnam].

This species has also been placed in Bambusa because of its vegetative characters and 2-keeled inflorescence prophyll, but it has a more capitate inflorescence than other Bambusa species.

It is the most important and most extensive wild species of bamboo in subtropical China, found in pure bamboo forest or mixed with broad-leaved trees.