''Chusquea'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has Leaf, foliage that remains green and functional throughout the year. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which lose their foliage completely during the winter or dry season. Consisting of many diffe ...

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of mostly evergreen perennial plant, perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily (biology), subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family, in th ...

s in the grass family. Most of them are

native Native may refer to: People * '' Jus sanguinis'', nationality by blood * '' Jus soli'', nationality by location of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Nat ...

to mountain habitats in

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

, from

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

to southern

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

and

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. They are sometimes referred to as South American mountain bamboos. Unlike most other grasses, the stems of these species are solid, not hollow. Some animals are, to various extents, associated with stands of ''Chusquea'', for example the Inca wren, monito del monte, and the plushcap.

Notable species

'' Chusquea culeou'', the Chilean feather bamboo or colihue cane, from southern

and adjacent western

, is notable as the most frost-tolerant South American bamboo and the only one that has been grown successfully to any extent in the

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (approximately 23.5° to 66.5° N/S of the Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ran ...

Northern Hemisphere, with successful growth as an

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or ''garden plants'' are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars th ...

north to

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. The colihue cane was used by the

Mapuche The Mapuche ( , ) also known as Araucanians are a group of Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina, including parts of Patagonia. The collective term refers to a wide-ranging e ...

s Indians to make instruments and as lances during the War of Arauco. ''

Chusquea quila ''Chusquea quila'', or , is a perennial bamboo that grows in the humid temperate forests of Chile and Argentina. In contrast to most bamboos, it grows as a dense, climbing or decumbent shrub. Its aerial culms are solid, unlike most bamboos, w ...

'' (in Spanish ''quila''), in contrast to Colihue, has a spreading or vining growth. It prefers wet places and does not grow above , where ''C. culeou'' becomes more dominant. ''

'' can form pure stands called ''quilantales''. Very few plants can grow under this species. In Chile, ''Chusquea'' species have been historically harvested for seed by

indigenous peoples There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

, but the flowering and seeds of the species, is associated to

mice A mouse (: mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...

vermin.

Taxonomy

The genus ''Chusquea'' now includes species formerly classified in ''Dendragrostis'', ''Rettbergia,'' ''Swallenochloa'', and ''Neurolepis.'' The genus has been organized into three subgenera, subg. ''Rettbergia'', subg. ''Swallenochloa'' and subg. ''Chusquea'', although molecular evidence only supports a monophyletic subg. ''Rettbergia''.

Species

193 species are accepted:''Chusquea'' Kunth
''

Plants of the World Online Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online taxonomic database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. History Following the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew launched Plants of the World Online i ...

''. Accessed 1 March 2023.Morales, J. F. 2003. Poaceae. 93(3): 598–821. In B. E. Hammel, M. H. Grayum, C. Herrera & N. Zamora Villalobos (eds.) Manual de Plantas de Costa Rica. Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis.

References

External links

Photo of stems
* ttp://www.sil.si.edu/smithsoniancontributions/Botany/sc_RecordSingle.cfm?filename=sctb-0009 Genera of Bamboos Native to the New World (Gramineae: Bambusoideae) by F.A. McClure {{Taxonbar, from=Q738414 Bambusoideae genera Flora of the Neotropical realm

Notable species

Taxonomy

Species

See also

References

External links