flowering bamboo in India

[drolivia]

Hi,
To introduce myself i'm Dr olivia ..and i live in Kalimpong a little hill station up in the north of India.we're located right at the foot hills of the himalayas and yeah ..we have a lot of bamboo groves in here.
I recently noticed the groove below my house in bloom.It didn't really strike me..only till i googled my way to flowering of bamboo plants.
I noticed this huge yellow inflorescence a month back and yeah after my night googling away ..i realised the significance considering bamboo's flowering only once in 10-48 yrs
i haven;t seen this one bloom since the time i was born . Now that wud be 26yrs

http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/753/medium/IMG_0090.JPG (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=3836&cat=753) View large (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=3836&cat=753&size=big)

http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/753/medium/IMG_0070.JPG (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=3834&cat=753) View large (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=3834&size=big&cat=753)

Flowering Bamboos here in india are considered to be" Bad omen "and the last time we had major flowering of bamboo was in the state of Mizoram in the year 1958 which was followed by famine and a great increase in rat population thereafter.
I did read about synchronous flowering of bamboos but this grove seems to be the only one ! The neighbouring grooves all seems fine n healthy.
Now i did take a few pics and also the seeds are all dry and the groves seem to be dying. Most of them seem to have broken from the base.
I'm not a plant biologist but yes..this topic seems to interest me a great deal.
Now , is this supposed be a sign of caution? Shud i look out for flowering of the grooves around the region???
Bamboo in this region plays an important role in the ecosystem..especially since this region is very prone to landslides.
I'd like to be enlightened more..

dr oli

[Mark Meckes]

Hi dr oli,
My first guess would be Dendrocalamus strictus
Can you provide more pics of the plant?
Can you check with smaller culms to see if the culms, especially at the bottom half are solid or nearly solid?
It would be helpful to see shoots of the plant but it may be too late if the whole plant has died.

Mark

[drolivia]

Dear mark,

how'dy? yeah , i shall take more pics n post them here.We have a huge variety of bamboo's here..come in all sizes..from tiny ones to hugeeeeeee ones too.i cud be ur special correspondent from the himalayan region here ;) shall try to get some pics of the shoots today .
thanks for ur quick reply.

regards,
dr oli :)

[Mark Meckes]

Hi dr oli,
I believe your pics are the first in the gallery from India and we will much appreciate and look forward to your culmtributions to the site!

Regarding the subject of D. strictus ... (if this is what you have in flower)

Here's some info from:
http://www.inbar.int/publication/txt/tr17/Dendrocalamus/strictus.htm
Gregarious flowering cycle varies from 25-45 years. This does not mean that all the clumps of a tract flower at the same time. It commences with intensive sporadic flowering for 2-3 years, increasing progressively resulting in the flowering of all the clumps in a period of five years. Sporadic flowering is seen almost every year. Gregarious flowering is related to injury, nutrition, climatic conditions and soil factors. Management practices and biotic interference influences flowering of D. strictus. When proper silvicultural practices are adopted flowering is reported to be delayed by 3-5 years. Flowers appear from November to February and fruits are seen from February to April. Freak flowering of 1-3 year old seedlings in nurseries and natural forests are occasionally reported.

A few pics of flowering Dendrocalamus strictus at bambootech.org:
http://www.bambootech.org/showgallery.asp?catid=8#

See flowering records of D. strictus here:
http://www.bambootech.org/subsubTOP.asp?subsubid=79&subid=23&sname=BAMBOO

Some questions ...
What is the average minimum temperature at your location?
The minimum temperature for D. strictus is 30F / -1C

What is the season of the year for March at your location?

Mark