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Giant bamboo (Dendrocalamus asper)

Dlium Giant bamboo (Dendrocalamus asper)

Petung or bamboo betung or dragon bamboo or giant bamboo (Dendrocalamus asper) is a species of plant in the Poaceae, large and strong stems, high adaptability, used as building material and structural wood for construction and cooked shoots for vegetables.

D. asper grows in clumps, the shoots are purplish black and covered by blackish brown velvet. 20 meters high with curved ends, 40-50 cm long, 12-20 cm in diameter and 1-4 cm thick. Green or dark green or purplish green or whitish green or mottled white by lichen.









The margins of the internodes are surrounded by hanging roots, the reed midrib 50x25 cm, covered by blackish brown velvet, the ears are rounded and sometimes curled to the base of the reed midrib leaf, 7 mm high with jute hairs up to 5 mm. Ligula serrated irregularly, 7-10 mm high with short bristles up to 3 mm.

The leaves of the reed midrib are triangular with a narrowed base and bent back. Leaves on twigs with loose midrib or sparsely pale, without ears, ligular 2 mm, strands 15-45x1-8.5 cm, slightly hairy underside and short petioles.

Flowers in panicles on leafless twigs with clusters of spikelets on each internode. The spikelets are ellipsoidal, 6-9x4-5 mm, flattened to the sides, have 1-2 gluma and 4-5 florets.

This species grows best at elevations of 400-500 meters, although it is capable of growing at elevations of up to 1900 meters. Average rainfall 2400 mm/yr, wide range of soil types but grows better in heavy, well-drained soils, full sun and minimum 25F temperatures.

Thick reeds are very strong and durable. At a moisture content of 8%, the wood density is 0.7-0.8 g/cm³. At 15% water content, the fracture toughness is 103 N/mm², the compressive strength parallel to the fiber direction is 31 N/mm² and the shear strength is 7.3 N/mm².

It is used for poles for houses, boat masts, shed frames, bridges, water pipes, musical instruments, furniture, household appliances, crafts, laminated boards, papier-mâché, chopsticks and toothpicks. Bamboo shoots have a large size and sweet taste.

TAXON

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Liliopsida
Order: Poales
Family: Poaceae
Subfamily: Bambusoideae
Tribe: Bambuseae
Subtribe: Bambusinae
Genus: Dendrocalamus Nees in Linnaea 9: 476 (1835)
Species: Dendrocalamus asper (Schult. & Schult.f.) Backer in K.Heyne, Nutt. Pl. Ned.-Ind., ed. 2. 1: 301 (1927)

HOMOTYPIC SYNONYMS

Arundo aspera (Schult. & Schult.f.) Oken in Allg. Naturgesch. 3(1): 422 (1841)
Bambusa aspera Schult. & Schult.f. in J.J.Roemer & J.A.Schultes, Syst. Veg., ed. 15[bis]. 7: 1352 (1830)
Gigantochloa aspera (Schult. & Schult.f.) Kurz in Indian Forester 1: 221 (1876)
Sinocalamus flagellifer T.Q.Nguyen in Bot. Zhurn. (Moscow & Leningrad) 74: 1662 (1989)

HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS

Arundarbor bitung (Schult.f.) Kuntze in Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 761 (1891)
Arundo piscatoria Lour. in Fl. Cochinch.: 55 (1790)
Bambusa bitung Schult.f. (1830)
Bambusa flagellifera Griff. ex Munro in Trans. Linn. Soc. London 26: 150 (1868)
Calamagrostis piscatoria (Lour.) Steud. in Syn. Pl. Glumac. 1: 193 (1854)
Dendrocalamus asper f. niger Hildebr. in Rapp. Bosbouwproefstat. 66: 43 (1954)
Dendrocalamus flagellifer Munro (1868)
Schizostachyum bitung (Schult.f.) Steud. (1854)
Schizostachyum loriforme Munro (1868)

PUBLICATIONS

Acevedo-Rodríguez, P. & Strong, M.T. (2012). Catalogue of seed plants of the West Indies. Smithsonian Contributions to Botany 98: 1-1192.

Ahmed, Z.U. (ed.) (2008). Encyclopedia of Flora and Fauna of Bangladesh 12: 1-505. Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.

Clayton, W.D., Harman, K.T. & Williamson, H. (2006). World Grass Species - Synonymy database The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Dassanayake (ed.) (1994). A Revised Handbook to the Flora of Ceylon 8: 1-458. Oxford & IBH Publishing Co. PVT. LTD., New Delhi, Calcutta.

Gilliland, H.B. (1971). A revised flora of Malaya 3: 1-319. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Singapore.

Giraldo-Cañas, D. (2011). Catálogo de la familia Poaceae en Colombia. Darwiniana 49: 139-247.

Jørgensen, P.M. & León-Yánez, S. (eds.) (1999). Catalogue of the Vascular Plants of Ecuador. Monographs in Systematic Botany from the Missouri Botanical Garden 75: i-viii, 1-1181. Missouri Botanical Garden.

Karthikeyan, S., Jain, S.K., Nayar, M.P. & Sanjappa, M. (1989). Florae Indicae Enumeratio: Monocotyledonae: 1-435. Botanical Survey of India, Calcutta.

Kress, W.J., DeFilipps, R.A., Farr, E. & Kyi, D.Y.Y. (2003). A Checklist of the Trees, Shrubs, Herbs and Climbers of Myanmar. Contributions from the United States National Herbarium 45: 1-590.

Kumari, P., Singh, P. & Mao, A.A. (eds.) (2024). Flora of India 30: 1-334. Botanical Survey of India.

Newman, M., Ketphanh, S., Svengsuksa, B., Thomas, P., Sengdala, K., Lamxay, V. & Armstrong, K. (2007). A checklist of the vascular plants of Lao PDR: 1-394. Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh.

Pandey, R.P. & Dilwakar, P.G. (2008). An integrated check-list flora of Andaman and Nicobar islands, India. Journal of Economic and Taxonomic Botany 32: 403-500.

Turner, I.M. (1995 publ. 1997). A catalogue of the Vascular Plants of Malaya. Gardens' Bulletin Singapore 47(2): 347-655.

Wu, Z. & Raven, P.H. (eds.) (2006). Poaceae. Flora of China 22: 1-733. Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis.

VERNACULAR NAME

Aceh: Triĕng bĕtong
Bali: Tiing pĕtung, Petung legit
Banda: Ambu swanggi
Batak: Bulu botung
Bugis: Awo pĕtung
Chinese (simplified): 马来甜龙竹
Chinese (traditional): 馬來甜龍竹 - 馬來麻竹 - 菲律賓巨草竹
English: Giant bamboo, Dragon bamboo, Rough bamboo, Petung bamboo, Sweet bamboo, Asper
Gayo: Oloh otong
Indonesian: Bambu Betung, Bambu Petung
Java: Pring pĕtung, Dĕling Pĕtung, Jajang bĕtung
Lampung: Pĕring bĕtung
Madura: Perrèng pettong
Makassar: Bulo patung, Bulo patong
Malay: Bambu betung, Buluh petung
Minangkabau: Bambu batuĕng
Nias: Léwuo guru
Nusa Tenggara Timur: Betong
Solor: Au pĕtung
Sunda: Awi bitung
Thai: ไผ่ตง

Aryo Bandoro
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