Dendrocalamus sp. 'Parker's Giant' flowering

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Re: Dendrocalamus sp. 'Parker's Giant' flowering

Post by Roy »

Chris S wrote:With these flowers it is not Dendrocalamus! :roll:

It will be Gigantochloa if the filaments are joined together in a tube, or Bambusa if they are separate.

Anyone want to check, or send me some flowers?

Chris
Chris: This is all that I'm seeing at the current time. I uploaded picture, but the actual picture size is reduced by 2/3. If this doesn't work, then you'll have to give me an email link to send the image directly to you.

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Re: Dendrocalamus sp. 'Parker's Giant' flowering

Post by Alan_L »

Roy wrote:...We were having normal rainfall patterns until around the first of September. Then the skies shut off the spickets. Since early September, I've had only 2/3 of an inch of rainfall at my house, and that was about 3 weeks ago...
I just drove through Florida on I-75 and thought that things looked dry. I guess I was right.
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Re: Dendrocalamus sp. 'Parker's Giant' flowering

Post by Roy »

Alan_L wrote:
Roy wrote:...We were having normal rainfall patterns until around the first of September. Then the skies shut off the spickets. Since early September, I've had only 2/3 of an inch of rainfall at my house, and that was about 3 weeks ago...
I just drove through Florida on I-75 and thought that things looked dry. I guess I was right.
Definitely been dry, Alan. A lot of my new Bambusa Oldhamii culms have "crinkles" in them. :-)
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Re: Dendrocalamus sp. 'Parker's Giant' flowering

Post by needmore »

Roy, do you anticipate that the flowering event will lead to an affirmative ID as a Bambusa sp?
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Re: Dendrocalamus sp. 'Parker's Giant' flowering

Post by Roy »

needmore wrote:Roy, do you anticipate that the flowering event will lead to an affirmative ID as a Bambusa sp?
Brad,

I think that will depend upon Dr. Chris Stapleton. I have no expertise or creditably in making that determination, although I was correct about the Bambusa ventricosa tuldoides fiasco. :-) I'm willing to do what I can (pictures and etc) to provide info to someone (probably will be Chris S.) with credibility to make an educated decision. At the current time, based upon the pictures I posted so far, I don't see anything yet to make a determination. Back in 2004, I did correspond with Dr. Soejatmi Dransfield, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and I did send some bamboo plant material to Dr. Dransfield at Kew.

I'm waiting for a response from Chris S. on this thread.
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Re: Dendrocalamus sp. 'Parker's Giant' flowering

Post by Roy »

And I have taken some decent pictures of bamboo flowers/flowering. I'm waiting on something like this.

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Re: Dendrocalamus sp. 'Parker's Giant' flowering

Post by bambambooboo »

Roy wrote:Your experience is basically the same as mine.
Unsurprising, considering I got mine from you. In fact, when I first saw the flowering I was gonna ask for my money back.

Will be interesting to home in on ID from the very infrequent flowering.
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Re: Dendrocalamus sp. 'Parker's Giant' flowering

Post by Chris S »

Roy, and all on this thread: In the tuldoides picture Roy posted it is easy to see that the filaments are separate, each individual one leading to an anther, which is one of the characters that defines Bambusa, following the traditional classification based on morphology anyway. I have looked around for pictures of the filaments joined together in a tube in a bamboo to help you, but can't find any where it can be seen clearly, and I have never actually seen them myself.
Not sure how long it will be before the anthers develop fully, especially if cold and dry weather is delaying growth. You may want to take a look inside some flowers before then, using a needle and a x10 jeweller's loup (just a few dollars on ebay, eg item number: 280718133031), which I can totally recommend for looking at bamboo details.
Knowing whether it has connate filaments (Gigantochloa) or free filaments (Bambusa) may still not help to identify the species though, as so many names have been published without seeing the flowers of course, so it could be in the 'wrong' genus, Bambusa, Gigantochloa or Dendrocalamus, if it has been published that is.
The picture of the Parker's Giant flowers you posted are good enough at that size Roy, but if you ever want to send me bigger pictures or anything else then the ABS species list address goes through to me specieslistATbamboo.org

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Re: Dendrocalamus sp. 'Parker's Giant' flowering

Post by Roy »

Chris S wrote:Roy, and all on this thread: In the tuldoides picture Roy posted it is easy to see that the filaments are separate, each individual one leading to an anther, which is one of the characters that defines Bambusa, following the traditional classification based on morphology anyway. I have looked around for pictures of the filaments joined together in a tube in a bamboo to help you, but can't find any where it can be seen clearly, and I have never actually seen them myself.
Not sure how long it will be before the anthers develop fully, especially if cold and dry weather is delaying growth. You may want to take a look inside some flowers before then, using a needle and a x10 jeweller's loup (just a few dollars on ebay, eg item number: 280718133031), which I can totally recommend for looking at bamboo details.
Knowing whether it has connate filaments (Gigantochloa) or free filaments (Bambusa) may still not help to identify the species though, as so many names have been published without seeing the flowers of course, so it could be in the 'wrong' genus, Bambusa, Gigantochloa or Dendrocalamus, if it has been published that is.
The picture of the Parker's Giant flowers you posted are good enough at that size Roy, but if you ever want to send me bigger pictures or anything else then the ABS species list address goes through to me specieslistATbamboo.org

Chris
The flowers actually started being produced late Summer of 2016. I've been waiting for some filaments/antlers, but so far nothing. An I've got 1000s of flowers. I do have some "Parker's Giant" in pots, so I can look at them from knee high and above. The experiences I've had with bamboos that flowered and produced seeds, is that the plant flowered 3-4 years before it stopped flowering. It's Winter, here in Tampa, if one call Florida Winters Winter. But I'm hoping that come Spring, then I'll actually start seeing some filaments/antlers. Hopefully I can get some good clear and defining pictures. Plus I've got my fingers and toes crossed hoping that I can get some baby "Parkers" out of this flowering.
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Re: Dendrocalamus sp. 'Parker's Giant' flowering

Post by Roy »

I'm not getting any real changes yet on my Parker's flowers. No little pollen "packets" sticking out. But thousands flower "pods" that at least one of my backyard squirrel like to munch on. I did find one that "may" have been trying to make some progress. But only one, and the 3 pictures are of the same "specimen". Just trying to keep the interest up as this type of "once in my lifetime" thing is interesting to me. The pictures were taken with a iPhone 7 plus. If I can get something really interesting to take a good picture of, I might have to see if my old Sony camera battery will still charge up.

Image

Image

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Re: Dendrocalamus sp. 'Parker's Giant' flowering

Post by needmore »

Thanks for the update Roy, mine has new branch buds about 1/4" long so is just waking up but no signs of flowers yet.
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Re: Dendrocalamus sp. 'Parker's Giant' flowering

Post by Chris S »

Looks to me like you are not the only one checking for seed in your bamboo Roy, and maybe something has been chewing its way into the flowers to see if there's anything inside that they could eat, leaving those chaffy fragments dangling.

I'm still happy to put some flowers under my microscope and have a poke around inside to see whether the filaments are separate or joined in a tube, to work out whether this should technically be classified as Gigantochloa or Bambusa.

Not that that will necessarily help us to identify it, as it may have been named without seeing the flowers, and of course it may not have even been named at all.

Nevertheless some of these flowers should really be stored in a herbarium for future reference, so the next people who want to identify it properly don't have to sit around for 50 years waiting for another flowering.

So if anyone wants to put a few flowers in an envelope and send them to Chris Stapleton, 11 Chandos Close, Amersham, HP6 6PJ, UK, feel free

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Re: Dendrocalamus sp. 'Parker's Giant' flowering

Post by Roy »

Chris S wrote:
So if anyone wants to put a few flowers in an envelope and send them to Chris Stapleton, 11 Chandos Close, Amersham, HP6 6PJ, UK, feel free

Chris
Chris,

I mailed some flowers to you today, Tuesday, March 21, at 11 a.m. EDST. I put them in an electronic media mailer. 1 set of flowers I wrapped in an absorbent paper towel and placed in a plastic Ziploc bag, but I didn't seal the bag. The other set I wrapped in an absorbent paper towel, but no plastic plastic bag. The US postal worker gave me a wide range of delivery times: 7-10-14 days. Hopefully, sooner. I'm still hoping for some continued flowering, so that I can get some good ID helping pics. Plus I would love to have some seeds and hopefully some baby Parkers. :-)
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Re: Dendrocalamus sp. 'Parker's Giant' flowering

Post by Roy »

BamBamBooBoo,

Have you got any new leaves on your Parker? My "flowers" seem to be "wasting" away. Not fully flowering and thus no seeds. No leaves, just big old bare no-leafed culms.

Roy

bambambooboo wrote:
Roy wrote:Your experience is basically the same as mine.
Unsurprising, considering I got mine from you. In fact, when I first saw the flowering I was gonna ask for my money back.

Will be interesting to home in on ID from the very infrequent flowering.
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Re: Dendrocalamus sp. 'Parker's Giant' flowering

Post by bambambooboo »

Hiya Roy. In fact I was just out inspecting and this morning pulled off a flowering section to photo for forum (will post pic later). I think I see some sort of filament coming out of the seed pod thingy but I'm not sure what I'm looking at.

No (hopeful) re-leafing yet though if I recall correctly the last traumatic event was not long after I'd brought Parker home, I think maybe a year later because I recall a new culm or two by then, such that after that really bad cold snap we had (2010 or 11? whenever) Parker was one of the last to recover. So it might normally leaf out later than others, maybe even early/mid summer. Plus as you know this has been a very dry dry season. Even pine needles are pointing down. I have taken to watering the boos, pretty much everything but the seabreeze which seems most drought resistant.

I've three small clumps of Parker now, all in seed. The original from you looks healthiest and with the thickest culms. Zero damage to those (minus no leaves, sad!). The next division culms are by now darkened (I had divided off the elder culms to push back the footprint), so really hoping for a new culm or two there, should they survive this process. The most recent division I think from last season looks dead, but that's the one I pulled a section of seed off today and was surprised to see the crown still seeming viable, at least well enough to support the flowers which look quite healthy. Whether or not the culms re-leaf or send up new culms is at this point anyone's guess.
Roy wrote:BamBamBooBoo,

Have you got any new leaves on your Parker? My "flowers" seem to be "wasting" away. Not fully flowering and thus no seeds. No leaves, just big old bare no-leafed culms.

Roy

bambambooboo wrote:
Roy wrote:Your experience is basically the same as mine.
Unsurprising, considering I got mine from you. In fact, when I first saw the flowering I was gonna ask for my money back.

Will be interesting to home in on ID from the very infrequent flowering.
"Without bamboo, the land dies." ~~saying
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