• Family : POACEAE
  (Grass Family)
• Family (Hindi name) : GHAS FAMILY (घास फैमिली)
• Family (as per The APG System III) : POACEAE
• Basionym : Arundo bambos L.
• Synonym(s) : Bambusa bambos (L.) Voss
• Species Name (as per The Plant List) : Bambusa bambos (L.) Voss
• Common name : Thorny Bamboo, Bamboo, Spiny bamboo
• Vernacular name : Vamsha (Sanskrit); Bidiru, Hebbidiru (Kannada); Kaset, Kashti (Marathi); Karmmaram, Mula, Mungil, Kabu, Kaniyaram, Pattil (Malayalam)
• Habit : Shrub
• Habitat : Deciduous forests, also grown in homesteads
• Comments / notes : Flowering once in 100 years, cultivated in gardens
• Key identification features : Large, thorny grasses; Culms erect, woody, tufted, rhizomatous, sheathed broadly with dense brownish-hairs; Leaves simple, alternate with linear, glabrous sheaths; Inflorescence unit is a Spikelet which is compoundly panicled with the spikelets in heads; Stamens 6; Filaments filiform; Anthers versatile; Style 1; Stigma plumose; Ovary superior; Fruit is a Caryopsis.
• Flower, Fruit : July-February
• Distribution :
  • Andhra Pradesh : East Godavari district, Vishakapatnam district, Srikakulam district, West Godavari district, Kurnool district, Kadapa district, Chittoor district, Nellore district
  • Karnataka : Ballari district
  • Kerala : All districts of Kerala
  • Maharashtra : All districts of Maharashtra
• Native : India, Sri Lanka
• World Distribution : Introduced elsewhere
• Conservation Status : Not Evaluated (NE)
• Literature : H.O. Saxena & M. Brahmam, 1996- Flora of Orissa Vol. 4; R. S. Rao et al., 1986 - Flora of West Godavari District; R. S. Rao and S. H. Sreeramulu, 1986 - Flora of Srikakulam District; N.P.Singh, 1988. Flora of Eastern Karnataka; B. D. Sharma, S. Karthikeyan & N. P. Singh 1996 - Flora of Maharashtra state - Monocotyledons; Matthew, K.M., The Flora of Tamil Nadu Carnatic, Vol.3 (2). Diocesan Press, Madras. 1983; Rao & Razi, 1981 - Mysore; Gopalakrishna Bhat, 2014 - Flora of South Kanara; Sasidharan, N. 2011. Flowering plants of Kerala. DVD, V 2, KFRI.
• Citation : Sankara Rao, K., Raja K Swamy, Deepak Kumar, Arun Singh R. and K. Gopalakrishna Bhat (2019). Flora of Peninsular India. http://peninsula.ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Bambusa arundinacea. Downloaded on 20 May 2024.

Botanical Description

Herbarium Specimen(s)

Field Image(s)