Bambusa bambos
(giant thorny bamboo)

Preferred Common Name

• giant thorny bamboo

Other Scientific Names

• Arundarbor agrestis (Lour.) Kuntze
• Arundarbor arundinacea (Retz.) Kuntze
• Arundarbor bambos (L.) Kuntze
• Arundarbor orientalis (Nees) Kuntze
• Arundarbor spinosa (Buch.-Ham.) Kuntze
• Arundarbor teba (Miq.) Kuntze
• Arundo agrestis Lour.
• Arundo arborea Mill.
• Arundo bambos L.
• Arundo bambu Lour.
• Bambos arundo J.F.Gmel.
• Bambusa agrestis (Lour.) Poir.
• Bambusa arundinacea (Retz.) Willd.
• Bambusa arundinacea Willd.
• Bambusa arundinacea var. orientalis (Nees) Gamble
• Bambusa bambos var. gigantea Bahadur ex Bennet & Gaur
• Bambusa bambos var. spinosa (Buch.-Ham.) E.G.Camus
• Bambusa orientalis Nees
• Bambusa spinosa Roxb.
• Ischurochloa arundinacea var. orientalis (Nees) Buse

International Common Names

• English: Indian thorny bamboo; spiny bamboo; thorny bamboo
• Spanish: bambú espinoso; banbu cafia de indios (Spain)
• French: bambou épineux; bambou roseau

Local Common Names

• Cambodia: russei khlei; russei prei
• Cuba: bambú espinoso
• Germany: Bambus, Dorniger
• India: bambu duri; baroowa; khare bans; kotoba
• Indonesia: bambu duri
• Indonesia/Java: pring ori
• Laos: phaix pa:x
• Myanmar: kya-kat-wa
• Philippines: Indian bamboo
• Thailand: phai-nam; phai-pa
• Vietnam: tre gai [ruw]ng; tre l[af] ng[af]

EPPO code

• BAMAR (Bambusa arundinacea)

• Domain: Eukaryota
•     Kingdom: Plantae
•         Phylum: Spermatophyta
•             Subphylum: Angiospermae
•                 Class: Monocotyledonae
•                     Order: Cyperales
•                         Family: Poaceae
•                             Genus: Bambusa
•                                 Species: Bambusa bambos

The genus Bambusa (family Poaceae) consists of around 120 bamboo species indigenous to Asia and the New World. B. bambos was the first bamboo to receive a valid name, described by Linnaeus (1753) as Arundo bambos. To separate it from the grass genus Arundo the name was turned around, giving a new genus Bambos and a new species name arundinacea (Retzius, 1788). This was modified the following year to Bambusa arundinacea (Schreber, 1789), used until McClure (1946) pointed out that Bambos should have priority over Bambusa and that bambos should have priority over arundinacea.

To allow continued use of Bambusa the name was conserved against Bambos (Lanjouw, 1961). However, confusion over typification of the species names B. bambos and B. arundinacea persisted for some time (McClure, 1946; Holttum, 1956a, 1956b; McClure, 1957; Soderstrom, 1986), even with suggestions of application of the name B. arundinacea to the non-thorny bamboo B. vulgaris. This was all clarified by the discovery of a good type specimen for B. bambos from Sri Lanka, allowing sound lectotypification of the relevant names (Xia and Stapleton, 1997). By that time B. bambos had come into widespread use rather than B. arundinacea, so that it was no longer appropriate to conserve B. arundinacea, which is now a synonym of B. bambos, along with B. spinosa.

There is considerable variation within the species in stature, culm wall thickness and degree of thorniness. The varietal name gigantea is used but has not been published validly. Coming from small areas of south India, it was distinguished on the grounds of large culm size alone (Bahadur and Jain, 1981). Bennet and Gaur (1990) illustrated it, but implied that its taxonomic status could be questioned. Muralidharan (1997) reported a height of up to 35 m in this variety (usual height 30 m), with diameter at breast height of 25 cm (usually approximately 18 cm), noting that it was flowering at the same time as the smaller variety.

B. bambos is related to the other thorny bamboos of China and South-East Asia, B. blumeana, B. sinospinosa and B. dissemulator, which have more strongly developed and more separate culm sheath auricles, less culm sheath pubescence, and spikelets without any apparent cleavage.

The following description is taken from Clayton et al. (2015):

Perennial; caespitose, rhizomes short. Culms erect; 2000–3000 cm long; 100–150 mm diameter; woody; with root thorns from the nodes. Culm-internodes terete; glaucous; distally pruinose. Culm-nodes pubescent (brown). Lateral branches dendroid. Branch complement one, or two, or three; in a clump; with 1 branch dominant; thinner than stem. Culm-sheaths deciduous; glabrous. Culm-sheath ligule 1–2 mm high; ciliolate. Culm-sheath blade triangular; erect; hispid; acute. Leaf-sheaths glabrous on surface; outer margin hairy. Leaf-sheath oral hairs setose; 4–6 mm long; pale. Leaf-sheath auricles erect. Ligule an eciliate membrane. Leaf-blade base broadly rounded; with a brief petiole-like connection to sheath; petiole 0.3–0.5 cm long. Leaf-blades lanceolate; 7–18 cm long; 10–18 mm wide. Leaf-blade apex acuminate. Inflorescence bractiferous; clustered at the nodes; in untidy tufts; dense; with glumaceous subtending bracts; with axillary buds at base of spikelet; prophyllate below lateral spikelets; leafless between clusters. Spikelets comprising 5–7 fertile florets; with diminished florets at the apex. Spikelets lanceolate; laterally compressed; 15–20 mm long; breaking up at maturity; disarticulating below each fertile floret. Rachilla internodes definite. Glumes several; 2–3 empty glumes; persistent; similar; shorter than spikelet. Fertile lemma ovate; 8–9 mm long; without keel; 15 -veined. Lemma margins ciliolate. Lemma apex acute; mucronate. Palea oblong; 1 length of lemma. Palea keels wingless; ciliate. Apical sterile florets resembling fertile though underdeveloped. Fruit a caryopsis with adherent pericarp; ellipsoid; sulcate on hilar side; 7–7.5 mm long. Embryo 0.2 length of caryopsis. 

Bambusa species have been actively introduced throughout tropical, subtropical, and temperate regions of the world since the 19^th century mostly to be used as fencing plants, to control erosion, and to create plantations in order to commercialize their culms (PROTA, 2015). B. bambos has been introduced to several other Asian countries on a small scale, usually because of seed availability rather than desirable species characteristics. Kigomo (1991) also reported steady establishment across different sites in Kenya, including a site with an annual rainfall as low as 600 mm. 

Soil drainage

• free
• seasonally waterlogged

Soil reaction

• acid
• alkaline
• neutral

Soil texture

• heavy
• light
• medium

B. bambos spreads by seeds and vegetatively by rhizome and cuttings. It has a remarkably easy vegetative propagation (PROTA, 2015). 

B. bambos has the potential to form extensive monospecific stands that outcompete native vegetation by shading and smothering native plants and monopolizing resources. This species also represent a serious environmental concern because dense clumps are almost impenetrable because of the interlacing thorny branches. It also disrupts the successional process in disturbed areas, secondary forests, and forest edges in moist and riparian forests (Duriyaprapan and Jansen, 1995; Oviedo Prieto et al., 2012; PROTA, 2015; USDA-ARS, 2015). 

• Proved invasive outside its native range
• Has a broad native range
• Abundant in its native range
• Highly adaptable to different environments
• Is a habitat generalist
• Tolerates, or benefits from, cultivation, browsing pressure, mutilation, fire etc
• Pioneering in disturbed areas
• Benefits from human association (i.e. it is a human commensal)
• Long lived
• Fast growing
• Has high reproductive potential
• Reproduces asexually

• Altered trophic level
• Damaged ecosystem services
• Ecosystem change/ habitat alteration
• Modification of successional patterns
• Monoculture formation
• Reduced native biodiversity
• Threat to/ loss of native species

• Competition - monopolizing resources
• Competition - smothering
• Pest and disease transmission
• Rapid growth
• Produces spines, thorns or burrs

• Highly likely to be transported internationally deliberately

B. bambos is a multipurpose bamboo. Its edible shoots are consumed by humans as a vegetable and its leaves are used for animal forage. It is often planted for erosion control and as a wind-break plant around farms and along rivers to check water floods. The culms are used as a construction material and they are also important raw material for paper, pulp and plywood industries. In Asia, an infusion of the leaves is used as an eye wash and internally it is given for bronchitis, gonorrhea and fever (Duriyaprapan and Jansen, 1995; PROTA, 2015; USDA-ARS, 2015).