Inventorying bamboo biodiversity of North Bengal: A Case Study

Abstract

Bamboo harboring both herbaceous and woody members has both ecological and economic importance and is includedin the Non-timber forest product, but regional assessment is still lacking. North Bengal covers six districts includingboth hills and plains are rich in biological diversity. It houses different genera having several species of bamboo.Inventory resulted in recording of 34 species of bamboos under the tribe Bambuseae from North Bengal belonging to 13genera of which 26 species (76.47%) under 8 genera are sympodial type while rest 8 species (23.53%) under 5 generabelongs to monopodial type. In spite of having extensive insufficiency and discrepancies of bamboo taxonomy anddistribution, this approach may help in the conservation of this natural resource. Enumeration of different species withbotanical name, common name, vernacular name(s), the sub tribe they belong to and the type of rhizome is provided.However extensive study is required to know emphatically about the bamboo diversity of this region