NewsNew bamboo species found in Colombian Amazon
INBAR project in Latin America and the Caribbean Region leads to the discovery and description a new species of bamboo from Colombia.
This research is the result of the study “Identification of bamboo species and their potential uses in the Amazon region of Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru”, which was carried out thanks to the project “Innovation and promotion of bamboo through participatory action research processes for resilient agriculture in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru— Bambuzonia”, funded by INBAR and the International Fund for Agricultural Development. The new species of bamboo, Guadua bambuzoniae Londoño, is described from the Amazon region of Colombia, specifically in the tropical rainforest ecosystem.
This species is unusual in that it grows in swampy areas and has several distinct characteristics that differentiate it from all other South American species of Guadua. These include erect and hollow culms at the base, as well as solid and arched culms at the middle and upper portions; primary branches that develop thorns at each culm node; usually a falcated, prominent and fimbriate auricle on the upper part of the culm sheath on one side; elongated and glabrous leaf sheaths; a usually straight, linear-lanceolate pseudospikelet; lemmas pubescent toward the margins with the margins densely ciliated, but otherwise glabrous, and a conspicuous and strong mucron; and paleas only slightly shorter than the lemmas, with broadly winged keels.
The study also provides a geographical distribution map, illustrations, photographs and a morphological comparison with two other bamboo species in the same genus, G. macrospiculata and G. uncinata.
Ximena Londoño and Eduardo Ruiz-Sanchez were the authors of the study. In addition, special thanks were given to Dr. Pablo Jácome E., director of INBAR for Latin America and the Caribbean; Carlos Roberto Falconi V., director of the Bambuzonía project for Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru; Carlos Sanchez and Samuel Morales G., coordinators in Colombia; Carlos Falconi V., coordinator in Ecuador and Raphael Paucar C., coordinator in Peru; and Dennix Villanueva, Max Bernal and Bruno Cano from the Bambuzonía project team in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, respectively.
Farm owners, drivers, members of local government institutions, universities, and herbaria who made it possible to carry out the botanical work during the visit to this Amazon region of Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru were also acknowledged. Diana Arteaga provided the illustrations, and Lynn Clark as well as the associate editor offered helpful comments and edits.
Read the article at Phytotaxa here.
