Melocanna

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Melocanna
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Liliopsida Order: Poales Family: Poaceae Subfamily: Bambusoideae Supertribe: Bambusodae Tribe: Bambuseae Subtribe: Melocanninae Genus: Melocanna Trin.
Species
Melocanna arundina Melocanna baccifera - pear bamboo, berry bamboo, muli, muli bamboo, terai bamboo etc.

Melocanna is a genus of tropical clumping bamboo (tribe Bambuseae of the family Poaceae). It comprises 3 species, found in East Asia. The genus is similar to Bambusa. The 48-year cycle of M. baccifera in northeastern India is responsible for the mautam phenomenon of bamboo flowering, followed by a plague of rats and famine.

[edit] Taxonomy

This genus includes Beesha (Kunth). Species that were previously classified within this genus and are now excluded include:

• Melocanna humilis (Roepert ex Trinius), replaced by Bambusa humilis (Reichenbach ex Steudel)
• Melocanna virgata (Munro), replaced by Cephalostachyum virgatum (Munro Kurz)
• Melocanna zollingeri (Steudel) var. longispiculata (Kurz ex Munro), replaced by Schizostachyum blumei (Nees)

[edit] See also

• Leptocanna
• Schizostachyum