Diversity of Bamboo in Brazil

Abstract:

The purpose of this work is to update and discuss the list of Bambusoideae species and its natural distribution in Brazil. According to the data collected, there are in total 256 native taxa (including 2 subspecies and 3 varieties) of Bambusoideae in Brazil, belonging to 34 genera and 2 tribes in this country. Among them, 164 taxa of 17 genera are woody bamboo, and the rest are herbaceous bamboo. The North region is most rich in herbaceous bamboo with 61 species of the tribe Olyreae, while the woody bamboo are mostly found in the Southeast region with 96 species of the tribe Bambuseae. Merostachys (43 species) and Chusquea (45 species) are the most common genera with most potential utilization for the Guadua (18 species). The endemism at generic and species level is 32.4% and 68.8%, respectively. The endemic genera in Brazil are Diandrolyra, Eremitis, Parianella, Reitzia and Sucrea for tribe Olyreae, and Alvimia, Apoclada, Athroostachys, Cambajuva, Filgueirasia and Glaziophyton for tribe Bambuseae.