Ochlandra scriptoria (Dennst.) C. Fischer (GRAMINEAE)
Common names
Kannada: Vaate bidiru.
Malayalam: Ammei, Ottal.
Description: Shrubby, reed-like bamboo with extensively branching substerranean root-stock. Culms erect, up to 5 m tall and 2.5 cm in diam. internodes hollow. Culm-sheaths truncate, up to 15 cm long, with 2 falcate, long-ciliate auricles; blade long, ensiform. Leaves linear-lanceolate, up to 25 x 3 cm, rounded at base, acuminate at apex; sheath with 2 falcate auricles; ligule very short. Inflorescence a short spike. Spikelets cylindric, acute, fertile few, subsolitary, up to 3 cm long, sterile ones in heads, smaller, up to 1.8 cm long. The glumes, numbering 2-5, are broadly ovate, with an acute or mucronate tip. There are 15-18 or more stamens with free filaments. The stigmas are plumose and come in sets of 3. The fruit is a caryopsis, ovoid, measuring approximately 7.5 x 1.2 cm, and possesses a long beak.
Flowering : Flowers sporadically every year and does not die down.
Distribution: India: Growing in thick clumps on river banks and stream sides. Common in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Endemic.
Uses: Used mainly in paper/pulp industry. Used for mat and basket making, floats and roofing. Small culms are used for making flutes. It is suitable for planting along margins of ponds and paddy fields as soil binder.