Bio Diversity Park

Common Name : Balcooa Bamboo

Hindi Name : बोरो बांस | Scientific Name : Bambusa balcooa
Family : Poaceae
Uses : Stems are used as a building material for houses, bridges, fishing floats, is much used for scaffolding, frames of rickshaw hoods, baskets, woven mats and for agricultural and fishing implements. This bamboo species also serves as a raw material for the wood chip industry, paper pulp, shoots are consumed as a vegetable and leaves are used as fodder.
Native: Bangladesh, India, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal and Vietnam
General Description:

A single individual can grow up to 30m. The stem is dark green and thick walled. The length of the culm is 3 times the diameter of the culm. The nodes are hairy below with a whitish ring above. The internodes are 20–40cm long, branches from the lower nodes are hard and leafless. They are thorn-like and mostly spreading. The young shoots are blackish-green, green with yellow, the culm-sheath is orange or brown in colour and is covered sparsely with dark brown hairs. The leaves are 2.5–5cm in width and 15–30cm in length. They are oblong to lanceolate, shiny above, pale and puberulous below. The leaves have rough margins with their apex pointed, somewhat heart-shaped and with a short stalk. Flower: The inflorescence is a large panicle with spikeate branching and bracteate heads. It is 0.6–1.2cm in length and 4-6mm in width with 0–2 empty glumes. The clump like most other bamboo species dies after flowering. Uses: Good for making ladders and scaffolding and house construction.