Bambusa textilis

Bambusa textilis Mcclure

(Bambusa textilis Mcclure Photo monaconatureencyclopedia.com)

Latin Name: Bambusa textilis Mcclure

Family: Poaceae; Genus: Bambusa

Synonym Name: Bambusa annulata W.T.Lin & Z.J.Feng; Bambusa glaucescens var. annulata (W.T.Lin & Z.J.Feng) N.H.Xia; Bambusa minutiligulata W.T.Lin & Z.M.Wu; Bambusa textilis var. glabra McClure; Bambusa textilis var. gracilis McClure; Bambusa textilis var. maculata McClure; Bambusa textilis f. maculata (McClure) T.P. Yi; Bambusa textilis var. pubescens B.M.Yang; Bambusa textilis f. purpurascens (N.H.Xia) T.P.Yi; Bambusa textilis var. purpurascens N.H.Xia; Bambusa textilis var. textilis; Bambusa varioaurita W.T.Lin & Z.J.Feng

English Name: Weaver's Bamboo, Chinese Textile Bamboo, Greenskin Bamboo, Chinese Textile Bambusa, Graceful Bamboo.

Chinese name: 青皮竹 qing pi zhu

Vietnamese Name: Tre, trúc nhự, trúc lịch.

Description: Culms 8–10 m, 3–5 cm in diam., apically slightly drooping; internodes green, 40–70 cm, initially thinly white powdery, ± stiffly pale brown hairy; wall 2–5 mm thick; nodes flat, glabrous; branching from 7th to 11th node upward. Culm sheaths deciduous, leathery, rigid, slightly glossy, basally stiffly dull brown strigose, apex slightly slanted and asymmetrical, broadly arched; auricles unequal, ends not decurrent, larger one narrowly oblong to lanceolate, slightly slanted, ca. 1.5 × 0.4–0.5 cm, smaller one oblong, not slanted, ca. 1/2 size of larger; oral setae slender, undulate; ligule ca. 2 mm, dentate or sometimes laciniate, ciliolate; blade deciduous, erect, narrowly ovate-triangular, ca. 2/3 as long as sheath, abaxially sometimes stiffly hairy between veins, basally sparsely dull brown hairy, adaxially scabrid, base slightly cordate, narrowed, nearly 2/3 as wide as sheath apex. Leaf blade linear-lanceolate to narrowly lanceolate, 9–17 × 1–2 cm, abaxially densely pubescent, adaxially glabrous. Pseudospikelets solitary or several to many, clustered at each node of flowering branches, dull purple when fresh, bronze-colored when dry, linear-lanceolate, slightly curved, 3–4.5 × 0.5–0.8 cm; prophylls ovate, ca. 3 mm, keels glabrous; gemmiferous bracts 2 or 3, ovate, 3–4.5 mm, glabrous, apex acute, mucronate; florets 5–8, apical one sterile; rachilla segments subterete or flat, ca. 4 mm, apex enlarged. Glumes 1, ovate, ca. 6 mm, ca. 20-veined, glabrous, apex acute, mucronate; lemma elliptic, 1.1–1.4 cm, glabrous, ca. 25-veined, apex acute, mucronate; palea lanceolate, 1.2–1.4 cm, slightly longer than lemma, keels glabrous, ca. 10-veined between and 4-veined on either side of keels; lodicules unequal; anterior 2 subspatulate, ca. 3 mm, margins long ciliate; posterior obovate-elliptic, ca. 2 mm. Filaments slender; anthers yellow, ca. 5 mm. Ovary broadly ovoid, ca. 2 mm in diam., base stalked, apex thickened and hispidulous; style ca. 0.7 mm, hispidulous; stigmas 3, 6–7 mm. Mature caryopsis unknown. 
Distribution:  Growing in low hills, plains, well-drained and rich soil.  The medicinal materials are mainly produced in Pingbian, Malipo and Xishuangbanna of Yunnan, Ningdong and Yangjiang of Guangdong, Guangxi and etc.

Part Used: Medical part: bleeding sap stored in bamboo joint. Chinese name: Zhuhuang.

Harvest & Processing: Collected in winter, cut bamboo stalk, taken out the tabasheer and sun-dried.

Chemistry: Contains potassium hydroxide and siliceous, etc.

Properties & Actions: Taste sweet, cold in nature. Clearing heat and phlegm, cooling heart and inducing sedation.

Indications & Usage: Used for infantile convulsion, epilepsy, stroke and wind phlegm, fever and coma, cough with lung heat. Internal: decocting, 3-9g; or made as pills or powdered; ground into powder, 0.6-1g per time. External: appropriate amount, powdered and coated on wounded part.

Examples      

1. Infantile convulsion: natural indigo and calomel 5g each, morning glorymo 25g, tabasheer 10g. Grind the above drugs into a powder, prepare into paste and pills as large as small bean. Take 20 pills each time with mint decoction.

2. Sore mouth: tabasheer and zala in equal amounts, a little borneo camphor. Grind into a powder and mix together.

References

- Chinese Medicinal Material Images Database

- efloras.org

- theplantlist