''Melocanna baccifera'' is one of two
bamboo
Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, bu ...
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
belonging to the ''
Melocanna
''Melocanna'' is a genus of Asian clumping bamboo in the grass family.
The 48-year cycle of '' M. baccifera'' in northeastern India is responsible for the phenomenon called "''mautam''" or " bamboo death", in which large populations of bamboo f ...
''
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
. It grows up to 10–25 m tall. It is native to
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
,
Myanmar
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, and
Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
.
Habit
It is tall, small-culmed bamboo with greenish young culms and straw-colored old culms. It grows in clumps composed of many well-spaced culms. It has a dense appearance due to its branching habit.
Description
Culms are greenish when young, but becomes straw-colored when mature or brownish green when drying. Young culms are covered with stiff, silver hairs. A white bloom occurs just below the nodes. Young shoots are yellowish brown. The culms are straight; branching occurs from the base, and branches are many, short, loose, and open. Internode length is 25–50 cm, and diameter is 1.5–15 cm. Culm walls are thin. Nodes are prominent.
Culm sheaths are greenish in young plants, and turn brown when mature. The sheath proper is 7–15 cm long and 2.5–15 cm wide. Blade length is 10–30 cm. The auricles are equal. The upper surface of the sheath is covered with white hairs or may not. The lower surface of the sheath is not hairy. Sheaths do not fall off, only blades fall off.
Flowering
''Melocanna baccifera'' flowers almost fully
synchronically every 48 years.
This flowering results in the phenomenon known as ''
Mautam
''Mautâm'' is a cyclic ecological phenomenon that occurs every 48–50 years in the northeastern Indian states of Tripura, Mizoram and Manipur, as well as in many places of Assam which are 30% covered by wild bamboo forests, and Chin State in ...
'': the population of black rats burgeons owing to the plentiful food supply provided by the bamboo fruit (up to 80 tons/hectare
), and once this is exhausted, famine follows as the rats move on to consume local crops, notably in the Northeast Indian state of
Mizoram
Mizoram () is a state in Northeast India, with Aizawl as its seat of government and capital city. The name of the state is derived from "Mizo people, Mizo", the endonym, self-described name of the native inhabitants, and "Ram", which in the Mizo ...
. The
(JNTBGRI)
Thiruvananthapuram
Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...
conducted the study for 13 years between 2009 and 2022 on the flowering of Melocanna baccifera and its relation to the occurrence of 'rat floods'
'bamboo death and famines in northeast India. Researchers have reported the highest ever fruit production of 456.67 kg in the bamboo clump.
Research Publication
A paper on the findings has appeared in the journal PLOS One on November 16,2022. It was presumed earlier that the high protein in the fruits/seeds was attracting the rats. However the study conducted by JNTBGRI in 2016 found that the fruit actually contained very little protein and that the predation is mainly due to the high content of sugar. The research findings are of K.C Koshy, B. Gopakumar, Anthony Sebastian, Ajikumaran Nair S , Anil John Johnson, Balaji Govindan and B Sabulal. The flowering pattern and fruit production discovered through this study will be helpful to the foresters and people involved in the conservation of this bamboo.
References
Bambusoideae
Flora of Assam (region)
Flora of East Himalaya
Flora of Bangladesh
Flora of Myanmar
Flora of Thailand
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