Spotted bamboo refers to several types of

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, ...

with stems that are mottled by dark spots, sometimes considered to be within the genus ''

Phyllostachys ''Phyllostachys'' () is a genus of Asian bamboo in the grass family. Many of the species are found in central and southern China, with a few species in northern Indochina and in the Himalayas. Some of the species have become naturalized in parts ...

'' and forms of ''Phyllostachys bambusoides'', also known as teardrop bamboo and as mottled bamboo. ''Phyllostachys bambusoides'' forma. ''lacrima-deae'' is widely encountered.

Distribution

''Phyllostachys bambusoides'' forma. ''lacrima-deae'', is native to

Hunan Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangx ...

Henan Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is a ...

Jiangxi Jiangxi (; ; formerly romanized as Kiangsi or Chianghsi) is a landlocked province in the east of the People's Republic of China. Its major cities include Nanchang and Jiujiang. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze river in the north int ...

and

Zhejiang Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Ji ...

, and especially the Jiuyi Mountains areas of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

Uses

The stems of the spotted bamboos are esteemed and cost-effective for making the handles of Chinese brushes, used for calligraphy and painting. Examples of brushes from the eighth century CE (corresponding to the

Tang Dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...

, in China) are preserved in the

Shōsōin The is the treasure house of Tōdai-ji Temple in Nara, Japan. The building is in the '' azekura'' ( log-cabin) style with a raised floor. It lies to the northwest of the Great Buddha Hall. The Shōsō-in houses artifacts connected to Emperor Sh ...

, in Japan; in fact, the prestige value of this type of bamboo was evidently so high at the time that among the Shōsōin treasures are preserved objects made out of some sort of imitation spotted bamboo.Schafer, 134

Legendary origins

Legend has it that when

Emperor Shun Emperor Shun () was a legendary leader of ancient China, regarded by some sources as one of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors being the last of the Five Emperors. Tradition holds that he lived sometime between 2294 and 2184 BC. Tradition a ...

died suddenly during a trip to Cangwu, the tears of his two concubines, (the

Xiang River goddesses The Xiangshuishen or Xiang River Goddesses are goddesses (or spirits and sometimes gods) of the Xiang River in Chinese folk religion. The Xiang flowed into Dongting Lake through the ancient kingdom of Chu, whose songs in their worship have been re ...

Ehuang (娥皇) and Nüying (女英)) dropped onto surrounding bamboo and stained it forever. Mottled bamboo is known for being a decorative plant. The Chinese name of originates from the legend. ''Xiang'' (湘) refers to the

Xiang River The Xiang River is the chief river of the Lake Dongting drainage system of the middle Yangtze, the largest river in Hunan Province, China. It is the 2nd largest tributary (after Min River) in terms of surface runoff, the 5th largest tribut ...

, where the story supposedly took place, ''fei'' (妃) means "concubine" and ''zhu'' (竹) means "bamboo", thus the "bamboo of the concubines by the Xiang River". The term "mottled bamboo" is also used to describe online discussion board moderators in

Mainland China "Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the China, People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming Island, Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territorie ...

, because when the word for moderator (版主) is entered using the keyboard in

Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese fo ...

, the word for mottled bamboo (斑竹) appears as the first option, as they sound very similar. Hence, mottled bamboo gradually became another way of calling a moderator.

Notes

References

*Cherrett, Pauline (2003). ''The Practical Art of Chinese Brush Painting''. (Leicester: Silverdale Books). * * Schafer, Edward H. ''The Golden Peaches of Samarkand''. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985. {{ISBN, 978-0-520-05462-2. Bambusoideae Bamboo Chinese poetry allusions Plant common names

Distribution

Uses

Legendary origins

See also

Notes

References