| Food security= 1
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[[File:Linedrawing Dendrocalamus giganteus.gif|thumb|1, stem bases; 2, young shoot; 3, stem leaf; 4, leafy branch; 5, base of leaf; 6, flowering branch. Source: PROSEA]]
<big>''[[Dendrocalamus giganteus]]'' Wall. ex Munro</big>
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{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Dendrocalamus giganteus'' (PROTA)}}
:Protologue: Trans. Linn. Soc. 26(1): 150 (1868).
== Vernacular names ==
*Giant bamboo, dragon bamboo (En). *Bambou de Birmanie, bambou géant (Fr). *Bambu balde, bambu imperial, bambu gigante (Po).
== Origin and geographic distribution ==
== Description ==
*Giant bamboo, with a short, thick rhizome and densely tufted stems; stem (culm) erect with arching tip, up to 30(–35) m tall, up to 30 cm in diameter, wall up to 25 mm thick, covered with a white waxy layer when young, becoming whitish to greyish green; internodes 25–55 cm long, lowermost ones shortest; nodes not swollen, lower ones bearing aerial roots. *Leaves alternate, simple; stem leaves with sheath up to 50 cm × 50 cm, dark brown hairy, with small auricles, ligule up to 13 mm long and blade up to 38 cm × 9 cm; branch leaves with sheath glabrous outside, auricles small and glabrous, ligule 2–3 mm long, irregularly toothed, blade obliquely oblong, 20–50 cm × 3–10 cm, shortly stalked at base, apex acuminate, glabrous above, slightly rough, with distinct cross veins. *Inflorescence a panicle on a leafless branch with clusters of spikelets at the nodes. *Spikelets 12–17 mm × 3–8 mm, flattened, comprising 1–3 glumes and 4–6(–8) florets, the uppermost one sometimes sterile; glumes ovate; lemma shortly oblong, 8–13 mm long, palea of lower flowers 2-keeled and hairy at margin, that of upper flowers usually not keeled and glabrous; florets with 6 stamens having long filaments and an ovoid, hairy ovary, style long, terminating in a single feathery purple stigma. *Fruit an oblong caryopsis (grain), 6–8 mm long, hairy above.
== Other botanical information ==
== Major references ==
* Clayton, W.D., Harman, K.T. & Williamson, H., 2002–. GrassBase - the online world grass flora. [Internet] Rotal Botanic Gardens, Kew, United Kingdom.http://www.kew.org/ data/grasses-db/. August 2007.
* Dah-Dovonon, J., 2001. Recherches pour la promotion et le développement du bambou et du rotin dans le Sud-Bénin. In: Agbo, B.P., Arodokoun, D.Y., Aïhou, K. & Matthess, A. (Editors). Recherche agricole pour le développement. Actes de l’atelier scientifique 1, Niaouli, 11–22 janvier 2001. Programme Régional Sud-Centre du Bénin. pp. 270–285.
== Author(s) ==
* M. Brink , PROTA Network Office Europe, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 341, 6700 AH Wageningen, Netherlands
== Correct citation of this article ==
Brink, M., 2008. '''Dendrocalamus giganteus''' Munro. [Internet] Record from PROTA4U. In: Louppe, D., Oteng-Amoako, A.A. & Brink, M. (Editors). PROTA (Plant Resources of Tropical Africa / Ressources végétales de l’Afrique tropicale), Wageningen, Netherlands. <http://www.prota4u.org/search.asp>. Accessed {{CURRENTDAY}} {{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{CURRENTYEAR}}.