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Dendrocalamus asper; photograph (c) Anna Hess, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Anna Hess, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2019-12-06

Dendrocalamus asper (Schult. & Schult.f.) Backer

Asper; Dragon bamboo; Petung bamboo; Rough bamboo

Poaceae · China South-Central, China Southeast +16

Cited as Kew's World Checklist cites it, Dendrocalamus asper (Schult. & Schult.f.) Backer: GBIF's backbone key for this page carries the name with another author, (Schult.f.) Backer.

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Dendrocalamus asper, photograph (c) Eduardo Chacón Madrigal, some rights reserved (CC BY)Dendrocalamus asper, photograph (c) Eduardo Chacón Madrigal, some rights reserved (CC BY)Dendrocalamus asper, photograph (c) Eduardo Chacón Madrigal, some rights reserved (CC BY)Dendrocalamus asper, photograph (c) Eduardo Chacón Madrigal, some rights reserved (CC BY)Dendrocalamus asper, photograph (c) Eduardo Chacón Madrigal, some rights reserved (CC BY)Dendrocalamus asper, photograph (c) Anna Hess, some rights reserved (CC BY) 20 photographs ›
Habitat figuresfrom few records
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
17.6°C
Record low 14.7 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
28°C
Jun, Jul and Aug at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
3,010mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
27–36DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in the habitat's months, not shifted
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
A sharp rainy season, November to April (the habitat's months, not shifted), in a year of even temperature. rain rule, CHELSA
Not shifted: the shift rule does not apply to this habitat. The chart is in the habitat's months.

From few records: 10 records in 9 grid cells. The records.

Summary

Dendrocalamus asper, also known as giant bamboo or dragon bamboo (in China), is a giant, tropical, clumping species of bamboo native to Southeast Asia. In addition to its prolific nature across Asia, the plant's overall attractive appearance (and ease of care) has seen this species introduced widely across South America and Africa (namely Kenya, Malawi and Ghana), as well as Mexico and Florida. One advantage of this bamboo, especially for gardens, is its natural growth habit as a sympodial, colony-forming plant. Overall this bamboo maintains its own "personal" growing space, and does not grow laterally (runners), thus posing less risk of being environmentally-invasive.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Dendrocalamus asper", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the median year's rain (2,011 mm of 2,816 mm) falls in November to April. The temperature curve is flat, 1.3 °C between the warmest and coldest month, so the growing-season rule does not infer a growing season from it. Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere. The habitat lies within 10° of the equator, where the shift rule does not apply, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Rain

2,816 mm in the median year at the habitat, 2,011 mm of it November to April. Wettest month January at 387 mm, driest month August at 68 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 2,102 mm to 3,487 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 3,010 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 2,816 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, southern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 27 to 36 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 24, the highest 90th-percentile month 40).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 17.6 °C, the absolute minimum 14.7 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 29.5 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 19.0 °C in August (across the grid cells of the range 16.4 °C to 24.5 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 28.2 °C in July (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 17.6 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 65 to 73% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected +374 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

From few records: this habitat climate is read from 10 records in 9 grid cells; a page says so under 12 records or 5 cells, and shows the figures as read.

Habitat months, southern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Dendrocalamus asper through the yearWarmest months June, July and August, mean daily high 28 °C; coldest month August, mean nightly low 19.0 °C; 2,816 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, southern hemisphere.10°15°20°25°30°35°29.5° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER14.7° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 27–36RH 65–73%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 9 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C26 / 22–2926 / 23–3027 / 23–3027 / 25–3127 / 25–3128 / 25–3028 / 25–3028 / 25–2927 / 26–3027 / 25–3027 / 24–2926 / 23–29
Night °C20 / 15–2321 / 15–2321 / 16–2421 / 17–2521 / 18–2620 / 17–2519 / 16–2519 / 16–2520 / 17–2420 / 18–2421 / 17–2419 / 16–24
Rain mm387 / 49–496377 / 58–494336 / 68–394253 / 95–293184 / 158–265146 / 114–34294 / 72–38868 / 53–337120 / 82–332193 / 120–299323 / 46–361335 / 45–439
DLI27 / 25–3428 / 25–3531 / 27–3831 / 28–4032 / 29–3731 / 28–3432 / 30–3334 / 31–3536 / 30–3835 / 30–3729 / 27–3327 / 24–32
RH %73 / 62–7673 / 63–7471 / 63–7371 / 64–7268 / 64–7066 / 65–7065 / 64–6966 / 63–6867 / 63–6968 / 64–7269 / 64–7571 / 62–75
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 9 grid cells holding the 10 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1967:5902 (-8.375, 115.125). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 14.7 °C, 1st-percentile night 17.6 °C, 99th-percentile day 29.5 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 9 distinct grid cells holding 10 of the 10 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1967:5902 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -8.50_115.000, lapse-corrected +374 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 688 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeChina South-Central, China Southeast, Taiwan, Bangladesh, Andaman Is., Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Borneo, Jawa, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Maluku, Philippines, Sulawesi, Sumatera, New Guinea · introduced: Sri Lanka, Bismarck Archipelago, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil West-Central, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Brazil South · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker-6.714, 110.883 · in the densest population, 6 records (18% of those in range)
Kew's description“bamboo” · “wet tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 33 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 10 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 21 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 2091 km away. 21 records outside the WCVP native range not used. Under a dozen records behind the climate. 23 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 33 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Dendrocalamus asper, photograph 1did not loadDendrocalamus asper, photograph 2did not loadDendrocalamus asper, photograph 3did not loadDendrocalamus asper, photograph 4did not loadDendrocalamus asper, photograph 5did not loadDendrocalamus asper, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Eduardo Chacón Madrigal, some rights reserved (CC BY) (5); (c) Anna Hess, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Wurfbainia compacta Round cardamom Pangium edule Pangium edule Football Fruit Photo: CC0, author not statedBulbophyllum apodum Bulbophyllum apodum Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, RudolphousCostus productus Costus productus Costaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Krzysztof Ziarnek, KenraizAneilema umbrosum Aneilema umbrosum Commelinaceae Photo: CC BY, Philippe HornusSalacca zalacca Salacca zalacca Snakefruit Photo: CC0, author not stated

Other Dendrocalamus 11 in the reference

Dendrocalamus bambusoides Poaceae Dendrocalamus barbatus Poaceae Dendrocalamus brandisii Dendrocalamus brandisii Velvetleaf bamboo Photo: Public domain, StickpenDendrocalamus giganteus Dendrocalamus giganteus Giant bamboo Photo: CC BY, Maurice RaymondDendrocalamus hamiltonii Dendrocalamus hamiltonii Tama bamboo Photo: CC BY, Sinéad Tuttle-LernerDendrocalamus latiflorus Dendrocalamus latiflorus Taiwan giant bamboo Photo: CC BY, Weiting LiuDendrocalamus membranaceus Dendrocalamus membranaceus Waya bamboo Photo: CC BY-SA, DvellakatDendrocalamus minor Dendrocalamus minor Poaceae Photo: CC0, Daderot Dendrocalamus pulverulentus Poaceae Dendrocalamus sinicus Giant Dragon Bamboo Dendrocalamus strictus Dendrocalamus strictus Male bamboo Photo: CC BY-SA, Dinesh Valke

Names & registers

Also known as Arundarbor aspera; Arundarbor bitung; Arundo aspera; Arundo piscatoria; Bambusa aspera and 9 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Poaceae
Described by
(Schult. & Schult.f.) Backer
Native to
China South-Central, China Southeast, Taiwan +15
Wild records
33 in range · 21 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22GBIF's key 2703315 is Dendrocalamus asper (Schult.f.) Backer; the page links Kew's Dendrocalamus asper (Schult. & Schult.f.) Backer, and the name is cited as Kew cites it
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 1 record within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (1 at a herbarium; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -8.50_115.000, lapse-corrected +374 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikimedia Commons commons answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 14 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

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