What is "melocanna"

Melocanna is a genus of Asian clumping bamboo in the grass family.

The 48-year cycle of M. baccifera in northeastern India is responsible for the phenomenon called " mautam" or " bamboo death," in which large populations of bamboo flower at the same time, this being followed by a plague of rats, which in turn triggers a famine within the human populations.

1. Melocanna arundina C.E.Parkinson - Thailand, Myanmar; naturalized in parts of southern China
2. Melocanna baccifera (Roxb.) Kurz - Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, Assam, Mizoram, Manipur, Bangladesh, Myanmar; sparingly naturalized in parts of West Indies and South America

see Bambusa, Cephalostachyum, Gigantochloa, Nastus, Ochlandra, and Schizostachyum