Dendrocalamus flowering!

[Rajendra Shinde]

Hello,

 

On Sunday, I was in Khandala. Saw Dendrocalamus strictus (Kalak) profuse flowering on entire Khandala hill slopes. At Xavier's Villa, opp Zara's on old Pune Mumbai Highway, there are large number of Dendrocalamus (wild),  all of them were profusely flowering. Same thing on the slopes of the Hills.

 

Rajendra

--
Dr. Rajendra D. Shinde,
Director, Council of International Programmes,
& Reader in Botany
St. Xavier's College,
(University of Mumbai)
Mumbai 400001.
India.
Off. Tel. +91-22-2262 0662 ext 356
Cell : 9819100131

[kiran srivastava]

This is interesting as we had bamboo flowering en masse in Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP), Mumbai in Dec 2007. Subsequently, it was reported elsewhere too!

I saw one bamboo plant flowering in Silonda Trail in SGNP last Sunday. The rest were all dead. However, in some places on the same trail we can still see a carpet of bamboo grass.

Cheers,
Kiran Srivastava
Mumbai

[J.M. Garg]

Relevant extracts for Dendrocalamus strictus (Karali,  Nakur bans; Kiri bidiru;  Male bamboo, narvel; Salia; Kalmungil; Sadanapa Veduru;  Lathi bans;  Kallumula) from http://www.inbar.int/publication/txt/tr17/Dendrocalamus/strictus.htm (great details with pictures):

"Gregarious flowering cycle varies from 25-45 years. This does not mean that all the clumps of a tract flower at the same time. It commences with intensive sporadic flowering for 2-3 years, increasing progressively resulting in the flowering of all the clumps in a period of five years."

--
With regards,
J.M.Garg
"We often ignore the beauty around us"
Creating Awareness about Indian Flora & Fauna:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Jmgarg1
For learning about our trees & plants, please visit/ join Google e-group (Indiantreepix) http://groups.google.co.in/group/indiantreepix?hl=en

[Kenneth Greby]

I believe that flowering of bamboos en masse is a phenomenon common to many species of them. Not sure if it is because of similar weather conditions or the same age of clumps triggering all to bloom simultaneously, however. Regards-- Ken Greby Palmetto Bay, Florida USA --- On Thu, 1/8/09, kiran srivastava <srivas...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Yazdy Palia]

Dear Ken,
I have seen the flowering three times so far since my childhood. I
think that it is because of same age. Bamboos flower once in 13 years
I think and then the bamboos in the entire area dries up.
The tragedy these days is that people go and collect the seeds, hull
it and eat it like rice. Earlier only the tribals used to do it,
however, these days people pay the tribals as much as Rs. 100/ kg and
take them. So much so that we do not see any bamboos sprouting.
Unless the forest department does something about it immediately,
entire areas will be without these beautiful clumps.
Regards
Yazdy Palia.