Melocanna baccifera

Common name: pear bamboo, berry bamboo, Chittagong forest bamboo

Melocanna baccifera, 3-7 cm in diameter (can reach 10 sometimes), 8-20 m in height, is a tropical/subtropical bamboo species natively found in Bangladesh, Myanmar and India. It has a very thin wall of 5-7.5 mm and long internode of 20-90 cm.

It’s an open clumping bamboo with long rhizome necks ( can reach 60 cm) , therefore considered invasive in some area. Culm sheath stays long and no branches develop at lower nodes. Culm is greenish with white powder and stiff hairs when young, turns smooth brownish green when mature.

Shooting time: August. Shoot is edible, not sweet though, usually eaten cooked or dried.

Application: house building, weaving, pulping, landscaping.

Where to grow Melocanna baccifera?

Latitudes: 40°N and S, big bamboo forests usually occur between 15-25°N and S.
Mean annual temperature: 20 - 33°c, tolerating 15 - 38°c
Mean annual rainfall: 20,00-30,00 mm, tolerating 600-44,000 mm (suggest 1000 mm minimum for commercial plantation)
Soil: fertile loam
Soil PH range: 5.5-6.5, tolerating 5-7

Timber yield: due to its thin wall, its biomass yield is very low compared to giant Dendrocalamus species.

Seed size: 4.5-12.5 cm long, 5-7 cm diameter

Seed weight: 47-180 grams (Fresh)

Viability: 3 weeks at 1-4 centigrade

Germination rate: 85% above

Harvest time: May-June

Life span: 30-40 years