Bambusa multiplex (Lour.) Raeusch. ex Schult. fil.

Among the several names applied to these bamboos, Bambusa multiplex and B. glaucescens are most widely used. The application of the name B. glaucescens has been disputed and cannot be verified from type material or from the protologue.

Most taxa are beautiful ornamental bamboos, but their identification, classification, and nomenclature remain complex and controversial. Many varieties, forms, and cultivars have been published, given new status, and variously combined under the species recognized by different authorities. Therefore, a comprehensive synonymy is not possible in this abbreviated account.

Culms suberect or apically slightly drooping, 1–7 m, (0.3–) 1.5–2.5 cm in diam.; internodes 30–50 cm, thinly white powdery, distally stiffly deciduously brown or dull brown hairy, especially densely so below nodes; wall usually rather thin, solid in var. riviereorum; nodes slightly prominent, glabrous; branching from 2nd or 3rd node up. Branches several to many, clustered, subequal or central slightly dominant. Culm sheaths deciduous, trapezoid, initially thinly white powdery, glabrous, asymmetrically arched, apex slanted along outer side; auricles very small to inconspicuous, oral setae few; ligule 1–1.5 mm, irregularly dentate; blade deciduous, erect, narrowly triangular, base nearly as wide as sheath apex, abaxially with scattered, stiff, dull brown hairs, adaxially scabrous, apex acuminate. Leaves 5–26 per ultimate branch; leaf blade abaxially pale glaucous, adaxially bright green, linear, 1.6–16 × 0.3–1.6 cm, abaxially densely pubescent, adaxially glabrous. Pseudospikelets solitary or several clustered at nodes of flowering branches, linear to linear-lanceolate, 3–6 cm; prophylls ca. 3.5 mm, 2-keeled, keels ciliolate; gemmiferous bracts usually 1 or 2, ovate to narrowly ovate, 4–7.5 mm, glabrous, 9–13-veined, apex obtuse or acute; florets (3–)5–13, middle ones fertile; rachilla segments flat, 4–4.5 mm, glabrous. Glumes absent; lemma asymmetrical, oblong-lanceolate, ca. 1.8 cm, glabrous, 19–21-veined, apex acute; palea linear, 1.4–1.6 cm, keels ciliolate, 6-veined between and 4-veined on one side and 3-veined on other side of keels, apex subtruncate, ciliolate, with a fine hairy tip on each side; lodicules 3, anterior 2 subovate, 2.5–3 mm, posterior narrowly lanceolate, 3–5 mm, margins glabrous. Filaments 0.8–1 cm; anthers purple, ca. 6 mm, apex penicillate. Ovary ovoid, ca. 1 mm, base with stalk ca. 1 mm, apex thickened and hispidulous; stigmas 3 or variable in number, ca. 5 mm, directly exserted from ovary apex. Mature caryopsis unknown.

Wild and cultivated, fields, mountains, low hills, riversides. Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan [SE Asia].

Perennials, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Rhizomes present, Rhizome short and compact, stems close, Stems woody, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems erect or ascending, Stems solitary, Stems caespitose, tufted, or clustered, Stems terete, round in cross section, or polygonal, Stems branching above base or distally at nodes, Stem internodes hollow, Stems with inflorescence 1-2 m tall, Stems with inflorescence 2-6 m tall, Stems, culms, or scapes exceeding basal leaves, Leaves mostly cauline, Leaves conspicuously 2-ranked, distichous, Leaves pseudo-petiolate, petiole attached to sheath, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf sheath mostly open, or loose, Leaf sheath hairy, hispid or prickly, Leaf sheath and blade differentiated, Leaves borne on branches, Leaf blades disarticulating from sheath, deciduous at ligule, Leaf blades lanceolate, Leaf blade auriculate, Leaf auricules setose or ciliate, Leaf blades 2-10 mm wide, Leaf blades 1-2 cm wide, Leaf bla des mostly flat, Leaf blade margins folded, involute, or conduplicate, Leaf blades more or less hairy, Ligule present, Ligule an unfringed eciliate membrane, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence solitary, with 1 spike, fascicle, glomerule, head, or cluster per stem or culm, Inflorescence single raceme, fascicle or spike, Inflorescence with 2-10 branches, Flowers bisexual, Spikelets pedicellate, Spikelets sessile or subsessile, Spikelets laterally compressed, Spikelet 3-10 mm wide, Spikelet less than 3 mm wide, Spikelets with 3-7 florets, Spikelets solitary at rachis nodes, Spikelets all alike and fertille, Spikelets bisexual, Spikelets disarticulating above the glumes, glumes persistent, Spikelets disarticulating beneath or between the florets, Rachilla or pedicel glabrous, Glumes present, empty bracts, Glumes 2 clearly present, Glumes 3-4, Glumes equal or subequal, Glumes shorter than adjacent lemma, Glume surface hairy, villous or pilose, Glumes 4-7 nerved, Glumes 8-15 n erved, Lemma similar in texture to glumes, Lemma 8-15 nerved, Lemma glabrous, Lemma apex truncate, rounded, or obtuse, Lemma awnless, Lemma margins thin, lying flat, Lemma straight, Palea present, well developed, Palea about equal to lemma, Palea keels winged, scabrous, or ciliate, Stamens 6, Styles 1, Stigmas 3, Fruit - caryopsis, Caryopsis ellipsoid, longitudinally grooved, hilum long-linear.

Bambusa multiplex is a species of bamboo native to China (provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Yunnan), Nepal, Bhutan, Assam, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, and northern Indochina. It is also naturalized in Japan, Iraq, Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles, the Indian subcontinent, parts of South America, the West Indies, and the southeastern United States (Florida, Georgia, Alabama).

B. multiplex forms a medium-sized clump with slender culms (stems) and dense foliage. This bamboo is suitable for hedges and live fences since the stems and foliage form a dense growth that create an effective barrier. The height of the stems under ideal conditions is about 10 ft. Propagation is through rhizome offsets and rooted culm (stem) cuttings. Micro propagation too is feasible through axillary bud proliferation.