喜马拉雅筱竹 xi ma la ya xiao zhu

Thamnocalamus falconeri Munro, Trans. Linn. Soc. London 26: 34. 1868; Drepanostachyum falconeri (Munro) J. J. N. Campbell ex D. C. McClintock; Fargesia gyirongensis T. P. Yi; Himalayacalamus gyirongensis (T. P. Yi) Ohrnberger.

Rhizome neck 2–3 cm, 8–20 mm in diam., internodes 1.5–3 mm. Culms 3–3.5 m, 1–1.2 cm in diam.; internodes terete, 15–19 cm, initially glaucous and white powdery; culms hollow; wall 1.5–2.5 mm thick, cavity with lamellate pith on inner wall; supra-nodal ridges prominent; sheath scar prominent, initially densely setose. Branches many, deflexed, slender, without secondary branching. Culm sheaths deciduous, narrowly triangular-rounded, leathery, glabrous or setose, longitudinal ribs conspicuous distally, distal margins yellow-brown ciliolate, apex asymmetrical; auricles and oral setae absent; ligule truncate or convex, 1–2 mm, glabrous; blade readily deciduous, linear-lanceolate, revolute, adaxially densely yellow-brown setose proximally, articulate. Leaves 4–6 per ultimate branch; sheath margins yellow-brown ciliolate; auricles absent; oral setae erect, gray-brown, 1–2 mm, rigid, undulate; ligule truncate, ca. 1 mm; blade lanceolate, 7–11 × 0.6–1.2 cm, abaxial midrib white-gray hairy proximally, secondary veins 3- or 4-paired, transverse veins distinct, base broadly cuneate or rarely rounded, margin spinescent-serrulate. Inflorescence unknown. New shoots May.

Mixed temperate forests; ca. 2400 m. SW Xizang (Gyirong) [Bhutan, India, Nepal].

The description is that of Fargesia gyirongensis, which differs somewhat from the type of Himalayacalamus falconeri, from near Kathmandu in Nepal, in its erect leaf sheath oral setae (Bamboo Soc. Newslett. 15: 12. 1992).

The culms are used for weaving.