Chinese herbal medicine prickly bamboo shoots taste bitter and are the seedlings of grass bamboo, a plant in the family Poaceae. It has the functions of clearing the intestines, stopping diarrhea, and reducing accumulation. It is mainly used to treat dysentery and indigestion. When is the harvest season for prickly bamboo shoots?
Image of prickly bamboo shoots
Prickly bamboo shoots belong to tall bamboo plants, with stems reaching 10 to 24 meters in height and 5 to 15 centimeters in diameter. The internodes are about 30 centimeters long, and the hollow is very fine.
The sheaths are densely covered with brown prickles. The sheath is thick and leathery, rectangular or long triangular in shape, with prickles on the back at the base. The auricles of the sheath are slightly equal on both sides. The margin of the leaf sheath has fringe hairs. The persistent leaf blade is triangular in shape, with small black-brown prickles on the front.
There are 2 to 3 thorns on the branches, and 6 to 8 leaves on the small branches. The leaf sheath is 2.5 to 5 centimeters long, with several grey easily shed fringe hairs at the sheath mouth. The leaf blade is truncate, sometimes with cilia at the apex.
The leaf blade of prickly bamboo shoots is slender lanceolate, 6 to 20 centimeters long and 6 to 20 millimeters wide. The base tapers abruptly into a leaf stalk 1 to 3 millimeters long. The back of the leaf blade has short hairs. There are 4 to 7 secondary veins, and the small transverse veins are not prominent. The leaf margin is rough or smooth on one side.
The spikelets are clustered, dense, with bran-like scales at the base, containing 4 to 12 flowers, yellow-green or pale green. The apex of the glume is pointed, hairless, and the outer glume is ovate or lanceolate, hairless. The inner glume has 2 ridges and is covered with 3 scales, with long white hairs along the edge.
There are 6 stamens, with anthers 4 millimeters long, and the tip of the anther can be pen-like. The apex of the ovary is covered with prickles, with 1 style and 3 stylar branches in a feather-like shape.
Prickly bamboo shoots are harvested from May to June and can be used fresh or dried.
Prickly bamboo shoots grow on both sides of rivers or near villages. They are distributed in southern and southwestern China. They are also cultivated.
