Gigantochloa apus

Gigantochloa apus (Bl. ex Schult.f.)

Kurz, Tijdschr Ned. Ind. 27: 226.
1868; Parker, Indian For. 57: 108.
1931; Tewari, Monogr. Bamboo
93.1992. (Fig. 47).
Bambusa apus Bl. ex Schult. f., Syst.
Veg. 7: 1353. 1830. Gigantochloa
takserah Camus, Les Bambusees
141. 1913; Blatter, Indian For. 55.
591. 1929. Gigantochloa
kurzii Gamble, Ann. Roy. Bot. Gard.
Calcutta 7: 65, t. 56.1896.

Fig. 47. G. apus. A - leafy twig with

flowering branch; B - flowering branch; C culm-sheath; D - spikelet; E & F - empty
glumes; G - palea; H - staminal tube and
stamens around the pistil; I - pistil.

DESCRIPTION
Strongly tufted bamboo with erect drooping culms. Culms bright green or
yellow, hollow at the base, 2.5-9 cm diameter, wall thickness 6-13 mm, little
swollen at the nodes and constricted between the nodes. Culm-sheaths 35-45
cm with small rounded auricle; blade curved up towards middle, very acute,
dark brown with spreading white soft hairs outside, inside glabrous, old
sheaths persistent, yellowish and brown. Leaves linear-lanceolate, 10-15 cm
long and 1.5-2 cm broad, petiole short. Inflorescence very large pseudopanicle; apparently leafless, with finely hairy axes and clusters of up to 20
pseudo-spikelets. Spikelets ovate-lanceolate, acute, straight, distinctly laterally
compressed; glumes 4-5; lemmas shortly mucronate below, apex with long
dark brown cilia; palea 4-5-nerved; keels ciliate. Staminal tube longer than
palea, anthers dark purple, 8-18 mm, connective prolonged into ca.1 mm,
hairy, acute at tip. Ovary oblong with densely long hairy apex; style with
upwardly directed hairs. Caryopsis ovate oblong with long attenuate furrow on
one side.

FLOWERING
Kurz recorded flowering of this species in 1878 from Tenasserim in Myanmar.
DISTRIBUTION AND ECOLOGY
This species is distributed in Meghalaya (Garo hills). Holttum (1958) mentioned
that this bamboo was probably native in Tenasserim, Myanmar and introduced
a long time ago in Java and now it is widely cultivated. G. apus grows well
either on sandy soil or clay soil. It grows in the lowland along river banks or on
hill slopes upto 1500 m above sea level. This bamboo grows in open areas or
disturbed forests.
ANATOMY
Macrohairs in the leaf lamina none, microhairs few, distal cell 36-43 m.
Prickle hairs numerous 23-63 m long. Papillae 4-8 long, 2-6 short overarching
the individual stoma. Stomata in 2-3 files, outlines obscured by overarching
long papillae. Long cells in 5-7 files on inter costal zone. In T.S. of leaf lamina,
four small vascular bundles on the adaxial side and four on abaxial side and a
large vascular bundle in the middle of the midrib are seen. In the culm
epidermis short cells mostly rectangular to trapezoid, papillae none. Stomata
50 m x 25 m wide. Long cells 170-290 m long, rectangular, sometimes with
tapering ends with slightly wavy walls (Widjaja, 1987).
CHEMISTRY
Chemical composition of the culm has holocellulose 52.1 per cent; ash 2.7-2.9
per cent; silica 1.8-5.2 per cent; solibility in cold water 5.2 per cent; in hot water
5.4-6.4 per cent; in alcohol benzene 1.4-3.2 per cent and in one per cent
NaOH 21.2-25.1 per cent. Starch content fluctuates between 0.24-0.71 per
cent based on the season. Nodes contain deposits of silicic acid.
SILVICULTURE
Multiple shoot production and rooting are induced from nodes and shoots
respectively by tissue culture method. Callusing is reported from the leaf
(Zamora, 1994).
PESTS AND DISEASES
Culm rot caused by Encoelia helvola and Witches broom caused by Epichole
bambusae are reported. Dinoderus minutus is the most serious borer attacking
harvested culms.

PHYSICAL AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES

The strength properties of this species were tested in green (Moisture content
54.3%) and in air dry (M.C 15.1%) condition. Average MOR 102.0 in green and
87.5 N/mm2 in air dry, maximum crushing stress varies from 21.73 to 26.50 in
green and 27.29 to 48.64 kN/mm 2 in air dry. Average tensile strength was
294.1 in green and 298.9 kN/mm2 in air dry. Average shear strength in green
varied from 5.99 to 7.68 whereas in air dry it was 7.47 to 7.65
kN/mm2 (Prawirohatmodjo, 1990).
USES
Gigantochloa apus is the most important bamboo in Java, especially in the
handicraft and furniture industries. Moreover, it is used extensively for building
materials such as roofing, scaffolding, bridges walls etc. This bamboo is
called Bambu tali by most Indonesians, because it is the best bamboo used for
making string.