DENDROCALAMUS STRICTUS

 

Probable height in Southern California within 3 years = 20'

Probable ultimate height in Southern California = 40'

Height in habitat = 70'

If growing in the ground it prefers to grow in full sun.

A clumping bamboo - rhizomes will not run sideways.

Minimum soil depth required for a healthy plant = 1'

Unrestrained rhizome depth in moist soil = 2'

Calcutta Bamboo, Male Bamboo, Stony Bamboo, Bana, Karail.

        8" maximum culm diameter. Dense, hard culms are hollow if grown wet & humid, nearly solid if grown dry.  Leaves are very soft & fuzzy on both sides.  Grows in tight clumps somewhat similar but tighter than Bambusas.  The average culm lives from 9-12 years. Drought resistant, perhaps the only large Bamboo that does well & looks OK in dry desert or semi-desert areas.  Becomes deciduous in dry spells.  Rare in the U.S.  23 degrees produced lots of leaf burn but was otherwise tolerated in 1984 & 1985 at the L.A. Arboretum as well as in Florida in 1989.  Jean Harrington in St Pete Fl had a 1 year-old 25' tall plant in 1995 that was hit with one night of 27 degrees & suffered lots of leaf browning but quickly regrew its foliage.

        Roger - "Not a pretty plant.  The leaves, stems & prominent culm sheaths cover the culms right down to the ground level unless you prune them heavily, which we do.  Also the culms insist on growing very tightly together in a dense mass.  Good for keeping the tigers & elephants out of the  yard."

        Hermine - "Another small-minded, bigoted statement.  This is a wonderfully vigorous, marvelously attractive plant.  When one is seeking the tranquility promised by Zen Masters from Bamboo contemplation, the rate of attaining the exalted state is 30% faster & 20% more intense if contemplating this plant."

        Native to Burma & Southern China, the most common Bamboo in India, where it is grown commercially for paper pulp.  In the mid 1960's the Sri Lanka Forest Department made large scale plantings in a dry area near a paper mill in Valaichenai, Sri Lanka.  The plantings were stopped in 1975 & we don't know if they were considered successful or not.  Grown in dry fertile areas of Thailand for edible shoots, basketry, tools, water containers, house construction, floors, ceilings, fences.

        Two plants were offered at the '92 SCABS sale, a 5 gallon pot for $50 & a 1 gallon pot for $20.  Three collectors wanted to buy them.