Drepanostachyum falcatum (Nees) Keng f.

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Drepanostachyum falcatum' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/drepanostachyum/drepanostachyum-falcatum/). Accessed 2025-04-27.

Family

  • Poaceae

Genus

Synonyms

  • Chimonobambusa falcata (Nees) Nakai
  • Bambusa gracilis Rivière & C.Rivière
  • Arundinaria falcata Nees

Other taxa in genus

    Glossary

    bloom
    Bluish or greyish waxy substance on leaves or fruits.
    ciliate
    Fringed with long hairs.
    glaucous
    Grey-blue often from superficial layer of wax (bloom).
    midrib
    midveinCentral and principal vein in a leaf.
    pubescent
    Covered in hairs.
    subulate
    Awl-shaped.
    truncate
    Appearing as if cut off.

    References

    There are no active references in this article.

    Credits

    Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

    Recommended citation
    'Drepanostachyum falcatum' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/drepanostachyum/drepanostachyum-falcatum/). Accessed 2025-04-27.

    Editorial Note

    Bean treated this species as Arundinaria falcata. On the nomenclature of the genera included in the former Arundinaria, see the entry for that genus.

    Stems tufted, 10 to 15 ft high, glaucous when young, slender, round; the joints clothed with a velvety down, swollen, bearing numerous slender branches; stem-sheaths narrowed in the upper part to the ciliate, truncate tip, bearing a subulate recurved blade 12 to 2 in. long, ciliate on the margins especially when young, pale purple. Leaf-blades 2 to 6 in. long, 16 to 78 in. wide, narrowed at the base, tapering to a fine bristle-like tip, pubescent beneath when young, rather pale green, somewhat glaucous beneath; secondary veins two to five each side the midrib, not tesselated with cross-veinlets; leaf-sheaths striate, ending in a minutely hairy ring at the junction with the blade.

    Native of the N.W. Himalaya at 4,000 to 7,000 ft (rarely higher), in damp oak forests. It is not a very hardy species, and is only suitable for the mildest parts of the kingdom. From all the bamboos here mentioned, except Himalayacalamus falconeri, it can be distinguished by the absence of cross-veinlets in the leaves. H. falconeri differs in having green or yellowish (not glaucous) stems with dark brown stains at the joints.

    D. falcatum flowers fairly frequently, being recorded in bloom in the British Isles in 1884–6, 1907–10, 1917–21, 1935–8, 1945 and 1951. Seed is fairly freely produced.