Arundarbor Kuntze; Bambos Retzius, nom. rej.; Bambus Blanco; Bambus J. F. Gmelin.

Arborescent bamboos, occasionally shrubby or scrambling, 1–20 m. Rhizomes short necked, pachymorph. Culms unicaespitose, erect to pendulous, rarely subscandent; internodes terete; nodes not raised. Branches several to many, often 1–3 dominant (subequal in Bambusa subg. Lingnania), branchlets of lower branches sometimes forming tough or weak thorns. Culm sheaths deciduous, rarely persistent; auricles usually conspicuous, always with marginal oral setae; blade usually erect. Leaf blade variable in size, transverse veins inconspicuous. Inflorescence iterauctant, fully bracteate, subtended by a broad 2-keeled prophyll; pseudospikelets rarely solitary, usually several to many clustered to capitate on flowering branches. Pseudospikelets prophyllate; florets 2 to many, terminal floret sterile or imperfect, sessile; fertile glumes preceded by 1 or more gemmiferous, glumaceous, or spathaceous bracts and/or 1–3 empty glumes; rachilla internodes usually distinct and usually disarticulating with florets, falling separately; lemma broad, many veined; palea 2-keeled, apex acute or shortly bifid; lodicules 3 or 2. Stamens 6; filaments free. Ovary usually stalked, apex thickened and hairy; style solid, usually short; stigmas (1–)3, long, hairy, plumose. Caryopsis terete, apex hairy; pericarp slightly thickened.

Most species in this genus are very useful cultivated plants, with no known or only limited wild populations. Bambusa lapidea, B. pervariabilis, B. rigida, B. sinospinosa, and B. tuldoides are used for building construction and scaffolding; B. albolineata, B. lenta, and B. textilis are split for woven bamboo goods; the shoots of B. gibboides and B. variostriata are edible; B. multiplex, B. ventricosa, and B. vulgaris are very famous ornamental bamboos.

Taxa incertae sedis

Bambusa basisolida W. T. Lin (J. Bamboo Res. 16(3): 23. 1997) was described from sterile material from Guangdong (Yangchun). In the protologue it was compared with B. subtruncata.

Bambusa concava W. T. Lin (J. Bamboo Res. 16(3): 24. 1997) was described from sterile material from Hainan (Haikou). In the protologue it was compared with B. duriuscula.

Bambusa multiplex (Loureiro) Raeuschel ex Schultes & J. H. Schultes var. lutea T. H. Wen (J. Bamboo Res. 1(1): 31. 1982) was described from Zhejiang. The holotype (X. Q. Hua et al. 81901, ZJFI) has an abaxially pale green leaf blade, glabrous culm internodes, subfalcate culm sheath auricles, and abaxially glabrous culm sheath blades. Because these characters are so different from those of B. multiplex, it is not reasonable to recognize it as a variety of that species. According to field records, its culms are up to 3 m high and 1–2 cm in diam. As the holotype is fragmentary and very difficult to identify, further investigations are required to place this taxon effectively.

Bambusa rongchengensis (T. P. Yi & C. Y. Sia) D. Z. Li (Acta Bot. Yunnan. 16: 41. 1994; Dendrocalamus rongchengensis T. P. Yi & C. Y. Sia, J. Bamboo Res. 7(4): 20. 1988) was described from Sichuan.

Bambusa sinospinosa McClure var. inermis Keng & P. C. Keng (J. Wash. Acad. Sci. 36: 80. 1946; Bambusa inermis (Keng & P. C. Keng) T. P. Yi; Dendrocalamus inermis (Keng & P. C. Keng) T. P. Yi) was described from Sichuan. The correct position of this taxon is not known.

Bambusa valida (Q. H. Dai) W. T. Lin (Guihaia 10: 15. 1990; Dendrocalamopsis valida Q. H. Dai, Acta Phytotax. Sin. 24: 393. 1986, “validus”) was described from material cultivated at the Guangxi Institute of Forestry, Nanning.

Lingnania transvenula W. T. Lin & Z. J. Feng (J. S. China Agric. Univ. 13(2): 82. 1992) was described from Guangdong.

Neosinocalamus rectocuneatus W. T. Lin (Acta Phytotax. Sin. 26: 228. 1988; Sinocalamus rectocuneatus (W. T. Lin) W. T. Lin) was described from Guangdong. This species is a member of Bambusa subg. Dendrocalamopsis.

Sinocalamus concavus W. T. Lin & Z. M. Wu (J. S. China Agric. Univ. 13(2): 82. 1992) was described from Guangdong.

Sinocalamus suberosus W. T. Lin & Z. M. Wu (J. S. China Agric. Univ. 13(2): 83. 1992) was described from Guangdong.

Sinocalamus triramus W. T. Lin & Z. M. Wu (J. S. China Agric. Univ. 15(2): 78. 1994) was described from Guangdong.

More than 100 species: tropical and subtropical Asia; pantropical in cultivation; 80 species (67 endemic) in China, mainly in the south and southwest.

(Authors: Xia Nianhe (夏念和), Jia Liangzhi (贾良智 Chia Liang-chih), Li Dezhu (李德铢); Chris Stapleton)