Introductory Agroforestry

DENDROCALAMUS HAMILTONII

Botanical Name : Dendrocalamus hamiltonii Nees.
Common Name : Magar bans
Family : Poaceae/Graminae
Sub Family : Bambusoideae

Plate 17.3 Dendrocalamus hamiltonii Nees.

Description

• It is a large bamboo, culms growing at an angle
• Culm are greyish white when young and dull green when old
• About 12-25m height and 10-19cm diameter
• Internodes are 30-50cm long
• Culm sheath is glabrous, rough with brown hairs on outer side

Distribution

• Found throughout in North-West Himalayas, Sikkim, Bhutan, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura
• Cultivated in Himachal Pradesh between altitude 350-1400 m at Chamba, Mandi and Bilaspur

Site factor

Climate

• Rainfall varies from 750-5000mm in its natural range
• Temperature maximum 46°C and minimum -5°C

Soil

• It grows on wide variety of soils having good drainage
• Sandy loam soils underlain by boulders are most suitable
• It is rarely found on heavy soils such as clay or black cotton soils

Phenology

• Flower sporadically or gregariously
• New culms arise from buds on the rhizome during July-August
• New culms attain their full length by November-December