Thamnocalamus tessellatus
| Thamnocalamus tessellatus | |
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Thamnocalamus tessellatus by Matilda Smith |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Monocots |
| (unranked): | Commelinids |
| Order: | Poales |
| Family: | Poaceae |
| Genus: | Thamnocalamus |
| Species: | T. tessellatus |
| Binomial name | |
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Thamnocalamus tessellatus (Nees) Soderstr. & R.P.Ellis |
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Thamnocalamus tessellatus (Nees) Soderstrom & R.P.Ellis is a species of bamboo belonging to the family Poaceae, and endemic to the high mountains of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland, lying along the south-eastern part of the country. It is found in the Amatola Mountains, the Bamboesberg, which is named after it, and the Drakensberg. Its generic name means "bushy reed", while the specific name means "tiled", an allusion to the rectangular pattern of veins on the leaves. Its common names include Bergbamboes, Wildebamboes and Mountain Bamboo.
Bamboos are divided into three categories on the basis of their flowering cycle - annual flowering, irregular flowering and gregarious flowering occurring at long intervals with synchronised flower and seed production. Most bamboos belong to this last category with intermasts ranging from 3 to 120 years.
T. tessellatus also belongs to this third category and flowers at 45 year intervals - records from KwaZulu-Natal noting flowering in 1908, 1953 and 1998/99. It is regarded as rare and vulnerable, threatened by fire and exploitation, and is also a host of the IUCN Red Data Book listed butterfly Metisella syrinx. Often found in association with Leucosidea sericea, this frost-resistant species grows in dense clumps up to 5 metres tall, preferring moist rocky places, and has hollow culms or canes of 2-2.5 cm in diameter. The leaves at the base of branches are reduced to papery sheaths, while other leaves are 4-12 cm long and sharply pointed with spiny margins and a strongly tessellated surface. This is the only bamboo native to South Africa, its closest relative, Thamnocalamus spathiflorus, being found in the Himalaya.
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