Taxonomy of Bamboo

Contents: I. Taxonomy: 1. General considerations. 2. General characters of bamboos. 3. Flowering and fruiting rhythm. 4. Problems in bamboo classification. 5. Systematic study of bamboo taxonomy. II. Classification: 1. History of bamboo classification 1750-1839. 2. Munro 1868. 3. Kurz 1876. 4. Gamble 1881. 5. Bentham 1883. 6. Stapf 1897. 7. Hooker 1897. 8. Camus 1913. 9. Brandis 1921. 10. Backer 1924 Agnes Arber 1926. 11. Camus 1935 Holttum 1946. 12. Raizada and Chatterjee 1963. 13. Fujimotto 1966, McClure 1966. 14. Ghosh and Negi 1960. 15. Pattanath 1965, Pattanath and Rao 1969. 16. Grosser and Liese 1971. 17. Bahadur 1979. 18. Hiroshi Usui 1985. 19. Wen Taihui and Chou Wenwei 1985. 20. Zhang Guang Zhu 1985. 21. Zhang Guang Zhu and Chen Fu-qui 1985. 22. Lalit Kumari et al 1985. 23. The current decade (1986-1996). 24. Discussions on different classification systems. III. Geographical distribution and ecology: 1. General considerations. 2. World distribution of bamboos. 3. Ecological preference bamboos. 4. Bamboos of China. 5. Bamboos of India. 6. Bamboos of Nepal. 7. Bamboos of Srilanka. 8. Bamboos of Bangladesh. 9. Bamboos of Burma. 10. Bamboos of Thailand. 11. Bamboos of Malaysia. 12. Bamboos of Indonesia. 13. Bamboos of Philippines. 14. Bamboos of Japan. 15. Bamboos of Papua New Guinea. 16. Bamboos of Africa. 17. Patterns of geographical distribution. 18. Growth and development. IV. Morphology and anatomy: 1. Rhizomes. 2. Culm. 3. Morphology of culms. 4. Anatomy of culms. 5. Culm sheath. 6. Morphology of culm sheath. 7. Anatomy of culm sheath. 8. Leaf. 9. Morphology of leaf. 10. Anatomy of leaf. 11. Flowers. 12. Fruits and seeds. 13. Generic characters of some bamboos. V. Shortcomings of bamboo classification: 1. Reasons for shortcomings. 2. Initial step in revision of bamboo taxonomy. 3. Bamboos not yet scientifically described. 4. Requirements for a systematic. 5. Investigation of bamboos. References. Glossary. Index.

"Bamboos have for long, eluded classification mainly because of their unique flowering pattern. Attempts by early researchers such as Munro, Gamble, Bentham and others who practiced the orthodox system of classification based on flower and fruit characteristics, resulted in some species of bamboos with wide geographical distribution being mistaken for different species, when they were merely polyploids of the same species, because of the limited number of samples available to then for their study. This has resulted in difficulties in identification, and confusion in nomenclature. From this it is evident that a solution to bamboo classification, and establishment of their correct identity can be achieved only by a multidisciplinary approach.

A taxonomist today must understand the methodology and data arising from other disciplines in order to evaluate evidence related to the classification of bamboos. In this book taxonomy is presented as the practice which uses the body of evidence produced by a number of different disciplines such as morphology, anatomy, embryology, physiology, cytogenetics, plant geography, ecology, silviculture and chemistry for the development of a natural classification of bamboos.

Whereas most books on taxonomy lays emphasis solely on a systematic treatment of families, this book explains in general terms the nature of plant taxonomy using where appropriate particular examples of bamboo species. Apart from discussing problems in bamboo classification, it presents taxonomy as a contemporary science describing the principles and modern methods which may ultimately bring about a solution to the long standing problem of bamboo classification."