Dendrocalamus sinicus L. C. Chia & J. L. Sun

Culms 20–30 m, 20–30 cm in diam.; internodes 17–22 cm. Culm sheaths deciduous or persistent, initially yellow-green, thickly leathery; auricles absent; ligule ca. 6 mm; blade erect. Leaf sheaths initially slightly hairy, becoming glabrous; ligule 1.5–2 mm; blade 20–40 × 4–6.5 cm. Pseudospikelets 1 or more. Spikelets 30–35 × 6.5–7.5 mm; florets 5 or 6. Glumes 1.2–1.5 cm, abaxially slightly hairy, apex mucronate; lemma 17–25 mm; palea 5-veined between keels, apex bifid. Filaments 1.5–3 cm; anthers 8–12 mm. Style long; stigma 1. Fruit unknown.

Yunnan.

* 600–1000 m.

Dendrocalamus sinicus, the dragon bamboo, is a gigantic clumping bamboo native to Yunnan Province of China and to Laos. It has the largest culms of any known species of bamboo; up to 14.5 inches (37 cm) wide with culm walls up to 2.3 inches (5.8 cm) thick and the culm up to 151 feet (46 meters) in height. Each culm can weigh up to 990 pounds (450 kg) apiece. A plant eventually consists of about one hundred culms. This species was unknown to science prior to 1980, although of course well known to the citizens of Yunnan and Laos for centuries.