Diversity and morphology of bamboo species in Nepal
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55899/09734449/jbr024103Keywords:
Bamboo diversity, Morphological character, Culm sheathAbstract
This review article mainly focuses on the revision of bamboo diversity and morphological characters used for their identification in Nepal. Peer-reviewed research papers and grey literature on the diversity and morphology of bamboo species was reviewed for this study. A total of 77 bamboo taxa (74 species and 3 infraspecific taxa) has been recorded in Nepal, belonging to 21 genera. Among them, 37 species are native, including 7 endemic species; 5 species have been introduced for cultivation, and 35 are exotic ornamental species. Morphological characters of 33 native species were examined, revealing 778 distinct morphological traits in 20 broad categories, namely: habitat, habit, clumps, rhizome, culms, nodal ring, internodes, branches, culm sheaths, leaf sheath and blades, and flowering characters. The highest number of variations was observed in culm sheaths (183), followed by leaf sheaths (150), flowering and inflorescence characteristics (52), culms (47), branches, etc. Culm sheaths and leaves are particularly important morphological characters for bamboo identification.
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