Dendrocalmus Asper

These are Tropical plants and native to Thailand, Sri Lanka and Indonesia.

They are currently been planted in Pietermaritzburg and Durban North coast by some sugar cane farmers. They have also been used successfully as windbreaks around macadamia nut plantations.

This is the Bamboo of choice with the view of starting a Bamboo Industry in SA. They have shown astonishing growth. Aspers planted out 3 years ago have now reached height of 12m with culm diameter of 50mm. They perform well in these tropical areas. The leaves are broad and ideal for Biomass and cattle fodder.

Rough bamboo or Giant bamboo, is a giant tropical and subtropical, dense-clumping species native to Southeast Asia.

This timber bamboo is used as a building material for heavy construction, and shoots are consumed as a vegetable.

This bamboo variety of the Dendrocalamus genus grows 15–20 m tall, and 8–12 cm in diameter. It is found commonly in India, Sri Lanka, and neighbouring countries.

Culms are greyish green, becoming dull brown on drying. Lower nodes of young culms are covered with golden brown hairs. Young shoots are brownish black. Culms are straight. Internode length is 25-60 cm, diameter 3.5-15 cm. Culm walls are very thick. Nodes are prominent. The culm sheath is straw-colored. Sheaths appear large, and broad; the top of the sheath is rounded, and auricles are small. The upper surface is covered with golden brown hairs. The under surface is not hairy. Sheaths fall off early.