LocationCampus area of Mae Cho University (มหาวิทยาลัยแม่โจ้), located in Mae Cho (แม่โจ้) of San Sai district (อำเภอสันทราย), about 13 kilometers north of Chiang Mai, or 9.5 km off Super Highway (#11) on National Road #1001 towards Phrao.
Frequent transcription variants of Mae Cho are 'Mae Jo' and 'Maejo'.Images
Photos taken from bamboos at Mae Cho Agricultural Fair are included in the following set:
Bamboos on Fairs in Chiang Mai
All images show plants at the Fair if not otherwise stated.
Bamboos found presented and offered for sale on the Fair
As part of the 75th anniversary of Mae Cho University, the Agricultural Fair was like a big plant and food market with shows. Along the avenues of the campus, there were numerous booths from plant nurseries all over Thailand. The majority of plant stalls are specialized in usable plants (chiefly fruit trees) and garden ornamentals (chiefly orchids and bromeliads). Many vendors labeled their plants but in Thai only. Bamboos were found scattered in a few stalls. They were either useful bamboos (shoots for diet) or ornamentals. All plant vendors brought to the Fair not only common and cheap plants but also plants which are rare or not frequently offered somewhere else. As for bamboos, no single commonly offered variety was found, all bamboos were rare, unique, or little known locally, and a few have not been detected elsewhere in Chiang Mai so far.
The first booth was of a vendor from Prachin Buri, central Thailand, specialized in fruit trees. He offered three bamboos with good taste of young shoots: ไผ่เลี้ยงหวาน (phai liang wan); ไผ่ตง (phai tong), which he said to be ไผ่ตงดำ (phai tong dam), one of the variants with delicious shoots of Dendrocalamus asper; ไผ่กินดิบ (phai kin dip), which he said is the same as ไผ่หลีจู (phai li chu), and that the shoots of phai kin dip can be eaten raw (as the Thai name suggests).
The second booth was of a vendor from Kanchanaburi, central Thailand, who offered some rare and expensive bamboos: ไผ่กิมซุ่ง (phai kim sung), a favorite bamboo for shoot production; ไผ่ยักษ์ (phai yak), Dendrocalamus giganteus, one of the bamboo giants. Among his ornamental bamboos, he offered Phyllostachys nigra f. nigra (with black culms), a variety of Chimonobambusa quadrangularis (with yellow culms), both from China, and the black-stem Bambusa lako which originates from Timor. The most striking ornamental was a bamboo with striped leaves: ไผ่ต่างกาญจนา (phai tang kanchana), or ไผ่ข้าวกาญจนา (phai khao kanchana). He said, this bamboo grows up to 5 m tall and has a running rhizome, and he showed me two photos (a stand of this plant, yet immature, as it grows on his land). The foliage leave blades are vividly striped of varying width in white or cream. The Thai word 'tang' means 'various', 'kanchana' means 'gold', and 'khao' means 'rice'. At first sight, I assumed this species to be Hibanobambusa tranquillans, a runner which originates from southern Honshu (Japan) and has been introduced as a garden ornamental into several countries worldwide, especially its striped variety. However, Hibanobambusa has leaf-sheaths with conspicuous bristles, whereas the few potted plants he offered, which were not in a good state, do not show any bristles. Hence, its identification remains unclear. I got to know that there exists a plant under the Thai name "phai tang kanchana" in cultivation in the Philippines (C.T., pers. comm., 6 March 2009), the photos of which matches with the plants of this vendor from Kanchanaburi, and leaf-sheaths are without bristles. The Philippine plant, however, is said not to be a runner but a clumper. Some bamboos which are actually runners may form initially a tight clump and remain compact for several years until they reach an adult stage. On the other hand, there are clumpers which develop long rhizome necks, thus forming an open-spaced clump when adult. One needs to observe the plants over the years, or to excavate a plant to see its rhizome type to come to a definite judgement.
A third booth was of a vendor from Prachin Buri, central Thailand, specialized in fruit trees, who offered only one bamboo, labeled ไผ่หวาน (phai wan), which I suppose is actually ไผ่เลี้ยงหวาน (phai liang wan).
A fourth booth belonged to a vendor who has his plant shop near BigC at Lampang, northern Thailand. He offered only one bamboo with bluish-green internodes, labeled ไผ่ตงหวานปักกิ่ง (phai tong wan pak king), which means a sweet-shoot variety of phai tong (Dendrocalamus asper) propagated by culm cuttings. He remarked, however, that this bamboo is not true ไผ่ตง (phai tong).
A fifth booth was of a vendor from Saraphi, a district not far south of Chiang Mai on the way to Lamphun. He offered three useful varieties of bamboo: ไผ่เลี้ยงหวาน (phai liang wan) from Prachin Buri; ไผ่กิมซุ่ง (phai kim sung); ไผ่หวานช่อแฮ (phai wan cho hae) from Phrae.
A sixth booth was of a vendor from Prachin Buri, central Thailand, specialized in fruit trees, who offered only one shoot production bamboo, labeled ไผ่หวาน (phai wan) and ไผ่หม่าจู (phai ma chu), which is apparently Dendrocalamus latiflorus.Further, there was a seventh booth of a plant nursery from Suthep subdistrict of Chiang Mai, with a bias on garden ornamentals and fragrant plants. Photos were not taken from bamboos at this booth. They offered potted plants of Phyllostachys nigra f. nigra (with black culms), and one green-stem plant of Chimonobambusa quadrangularis.
