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Melocanna baccifera is one of two bamboo species belonging to the Melocanna genus. It grows up to 10–25 m tall. It is native to Bangladesh, Myanmar, India, and Thailand.

Melocanna baccifera
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Monocots
Clade:	Commelinids
Order:	Poales
Family:	Poaceae
Genus:	Melocanna
Species:	M. baccifera
Binomial name
Melocanna baccifera (Roxb.) Kurz
Synonyms[1]
List Bambusa baccifera Roxb. Beesha baccifera (Roxb.) Kunth Beesha rheediiKunth [Invalid] Melocanna bambusoides Trin. [Illegitimate] Nastus baccifera (Roxb.) Raspail

Habit

It is tall, small-culmed bamboo with greenish young culms and straw-colored old culms. It grows in clumps composed of many well-spaced culms. It has a dense appearance due to its branching habit.

Description

Culms are greenish when young, but becomes straw-colored when mature or brownish green when drying. Young culms are covered with stiff, silver hairs. A white bloom occurs just below the nodes. Young shoots are yellowish brown. The culms are straight; branching occurs from the base, and branches are many, short, loose, and open. Internode length is 25–50 cm, and diameter is 1.5–15 cm. Culm walls are thin. Nodes are prominent.

Culm sheaths are greenish in young plants, and turn brown when mature. The sheath proper is 7–15 cm long and 2.5–15 cm wide. Blade length is 10–30 cm. The auricles are equal. The upper surface of the sheath is covered with white hairs or may not. The lower surface of the sheath is not hairy. Sheaths do not fall off, only blades fall off.

Flowering

Melocanna baccifera flowers almost fully synchronically every 48 years.[2] This flowering results in the phenomenon known as Mautam: the population of black rats burgeons owing to the plentiful food supply provided by the bamboo fruit (up to 80 tons/hectare[2]), and once this is exhausted, famine follows as the rats move on to consume local crops, notably in the Northeast Indian state of Mizoram.

References

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