Morphological and molecular characterization of Bambusa tulda with a note on flowering.
OBJECTIVE
Flowering incidence in Bambusa tulda has a high socio-economic impact. The aim of the present study was to describe the species for morphological characters (vegetative and reproductive) as well as molecular markers in order to enable species identification at various stages of the life cycle.


METHODS
Thirty-two key morphological characters (15 culm and 17 culm-sheath) were studied along with detailed inflorescence and floral characters. Incidence of sporadic flowering was recorded. Genomic DNA was isolated from leaves collected from 17 eco-geographical locations and RAPD profiles were generated.


RESULTS
The description of culm, culm-sheath, inflorescence and floral morphology are in agreement with the prior taxonomic description by Gamble in 1896, but in this communication a more detailed description and illustrations are presented. No seed set was recorded following sporadic flowering, probably due to prezygoting isolating mechanisms (herkogamy or protandry). All 17 populations surveyed generated identical RAPD profiles.


CONCLUSIONS
Sporadic flowering may occur in B. tulda, but may not necessarily be followed by gregarious flowering, and does not result in seed production.
Bhattacharya
Samik
S
Plant Molecular and Cellular Genetics, Bose Institute, P 1/12 CIT Scheme VIIM, Kolkata-700054, India.
Das
Malay
M
Bar
Radharaman
R
Pal
Amita
A
D031723:Bambusa / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics; D035264:Flowers / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology*; D007194:India; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000737:chemistry; D019105:Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA Technique
D004247:DNA