Location
Postal Address:
Chaloem Phrakiat Ratchaphruek Garden, T. Mae Hia, A. Mueang, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand
สวนเฉลิมพระเกียรติ ราชพฤกษ์ ตำบลแม่เหียะ อำเภอเมือง จังหวัดเชียงใหม่ ๕๐๒๐๐
Map:Grid J1 in BS Route Map 1.
Direction
From Chiang Mai, a few miles on Chaing Mai – Hang Dong Road (#108) in southern direction towards Hang Dong, turn right at intersection on Road to Night Safari (#3044), cross the Irrigation Canal Road (#121), heading Night Safari / Royal Flora Ratchaphruek (site of the International Horticultural Exposition, 2006), enter the circle ahead, and exit the circle on one of the streets leading to car parking areas. Walking distance from there to the entrance.
Description of Site
Site Plan of the Royal Flora Ratchaphruek
The Chaloem Phrakiat Ratchaphruek Garden, located in the south of Chiang Mai, is better known by foreigners as the Royal Flora Ratchaphruek, as this was the area of the former International Horticultural Exposition, "Royal Flora Ratchaphruek Expo", held from 1 Nov 2006 to 31 Jan 2007. The Garden, originally developed for the Exposition, is part of a 470 rai (75 hectare) farming research area, and comprises several lakes and many buildings. The Royal Pavilion (Ho Kham Luang), a two-storey teak pavilion in Lanna architectural style, stands tall amid exquisite garden surroundings as a cultural landmark. Numerous tropical and subtropical plants have been grown, but very old trees are hardly to find there. The general garden design represents a contemporary Thai style which is typically representative and showy. Now, the area suits as a public garden, and for events and shows, and it is said to be a botanical learning center. There are many theme gardens, e.g. a palm garden, but a bamboo garden is missing.
The name, Chaloem Phrakiat Ratchaphruek Garden (สวนเฉลิมพระเกียรติ ราชพฤกษ์), can be freely translated as Golden Shower Garden in Honor of The King. Ratchaphruek (ราชพฤกษ์) is said to be the Thai common name of Cassia fistula L. (Leguminosae: Caesalpinoideae), a medium-sized tree with spectacular yellow flowers in drooping, 20-40 cm long clusters. These flowers are often referred to as Thailand's national flower, whose bright yellow color serves as a symbol of both Buddhism and royalty. Cassia fistula is widely known under the Thai common names ชัยพฤกษ์ (chaiphruek), or คูณ (khun), and under the English names Golden Shower, Yellow Cassia, Indian Laburnum, or Pudding Pine, whereas the Thai common name Ratchaphruek (ราชพฤกษ์) has been applied to a different species, Cassia agnes, of the same genus.
Images
Photos can be found in the following set:
Bamboos at the Royal Flora Ratchaphruek
All images show plants at the Royal Flora Ratchaphruek if not otherwise stated. The first two batches of photos were taken during rainy season on 28 June and 22 July 2009.
Bamboos found planted in the Royal Flora Ratchaphruek
Bamboos are not a dominant feature in the Royal Flora Ratchaphruek. I detected 13 different bamboos only. The main purpose of this visit was to search for flowering clumps of phai liang or phai liang wan, and indeed I found several culms in a stage of sporadic and intensive bloom, some of them going to die or were dead already. No single seed was found. Several clumps of this bamboo were labeled "Bambusa multiplex". Judging from vegetative characters, phai liang / phai liang wan (those that I observed in the Chiang Mai area so far) are not conspecific with Bambusa multiplex, the common Hedge Bamboo. Having flowers available now, an approach in species identification should be possible sooner or later.
(001) Schizostachyum brachycladum cv. Bali Kuning — ไผ่ทอง (phai thong)
This is the common yellow-stem variety of Schizostachyum brachycladum. The plant is flowering.
(002) ไผ่เลี้ยง (phai liang)
Phai liang was planted quite frequently. It is not known if all of this bamboo in the Royal Flora Ratchaphruek comes from a single source. The plant shown here is tall, with dark green foliage leaves and light green young shoots with cinnamon tint. It closely resembles phai liang (BS-0001-1) except for the color of young shoots which are cinnamon-colored. Flowers could not been detected in this stand. The bamboo is labeled and misnamed as "Bambusa multiplex".
(003) Bambusa sp.
A tall thorny species of Bambusa with small leaves. I found old culm sheaths, which are hairy and have auricles with bristles. On a second visit, a single thin shoot was found having emerged from ground; its characters are as follows: Culms farinose when young, nodes with sheath scar ring black velvety, culm sheaths dull light yellowish-green when young, light brown when dry, culm sheath ligule conspicuous, culm sheath auricles and bristles lacking or inconspicuous, culm sheath blade reflexed. Foliage leaves small, twigs usually with 10 leaves, middle or dark green, glabrous on both sides, leaf sheath auricles and bristles none.
(004) Schizostachyum brachycladum cv. Ratchaphruek
This bamboo came to me as a surprise, as seen for the first time in Chiang Mai. Soon after, I found an even larger clump of the same variety grown at Queen Sirikit Botanic Garden. This variety has green stems with one to several yellow stripes of varying width. The dominant color of the stems is green, and the yellow stripes give this bamboo a nice appeal. The plant is in sporadic flower. Another variety with yellow stems (occasionally with a few narrow green stripes), known as ไผ่ทอง (phai thong), of Schizostachyum brachycladum is well known and frequently planted in the Chiang Mai area, and the wild green-stem variety is not found in cultivation in Chiang Mai (only seen once at Khamthiang Market as a sport of the yellow-stem variety).
(005) ไผ่เลี้ยง (phai liang)
Two plants of phai liang, trimmed as a column, grow in front of the pavilion of the Indonesian Garden. One plant is in sporadic flowering.
(006) Phyllostachys sp.
The Royal Project Garden is another theme garden, created by the Royal Project. This garden contains several bamboos, among them a green-stem species of Phyllostachys, which shows its invasive growth by numerous new shoots emerging from ground far off the original plant site.
(007) ไผ่เลี้ยง (phai liang)
Planted as a visual screen in the Royal Project Garden, this phai liang shows several clumps with flowers, and a few clumps died already from intensive flowering. This phai liang grows tall, has dark green foliage, and new shoots are green.
(008) Thyrsostachys siamensis
This species of Thyrsostachys is grown in the Royal Project Garden. At my first visit, no new shoots could be detected in this clump, and no fresh culm sheaths. All mature and old culms had decaying attached culm sheaths, no single olive green culm was found, and I thought this species might be Thyrsostachys oliveri. On a second visit, however, I found a few new shoots. Their culm sheaths clearly show an convex-truncate apex, which is characteristic of Thyrsostachys siamensis, whereas the sheath apex is straight truncate in Thyrsostachys oliveri. Other characters found in this clump: In young shoots, the culm sheath blade is typically erect and not reflexed, and culm sheath ligule is convex and entire. Foliage leaf blades have a few sparsely distributed upright light hairs on the upper surface.
(009) Unidentified bamboo
An unidentified bamboo was found in the Royal Project Garden; the internodes rough, bluish-green, culm sheaths deciduous, hairy, much shorter than the internode, culm sheath blade reflexed, branches several with one dominant branch, foliage leaf blades small, green to bluish-green, glabrous on both sides, culm leaf sheaths covered with light colored hairs, leaf sheath auricles small, bristles present.
(010) Unidentified bamboo
Another unidentified bamboo was found outside of the Royal Project Garden, on its western side; the internodes glabrous, nodes with multiple branches, subequal, occasionally with one dominant branch, culm sheaths glabrous, culm sheath ligule long, fringed, foliage leaf blades glabrous on both sides, medium-sized, leaf sheath green to orange, glabrous, leaf sheath auricles and bristles present.
(011) Phyllostachys sp.
Grown as a pot plant, a species of Phyllostachys with yellow stems was found.
(012) ไผ่เลี้ยง (phai liang)
Phai liang was planted as a hedge at the entrance of the Japanese Garden. The plant shows dark green foliage leaves and green young shoots. At closer sight, a few branches were found flowering, some of them topping the hedge.
(013) Bambusa multiplex
True Bambusa multiplex was planted as a hedge around the Vietnamese Garden. No flowers were found.
(014) ไผ่เลี้ยง (phai liang)
Around the Chinese Garden, several individual clumps of phai liang, with dark green foliage leaves, were planted, one of them found in flower. Many of these clumps were only few culms left and show stumps, probably because flowering culms were removed by the gardeners.
(015) ไผ่เลี้ยง (phai liang)
In the far rear of the Royal Pavilion, along the boundary of the Royal Flora Ratchaphruek, a row of phai liang (with dark green foliage leaves) was planted on a dry ridge over a length of several hundred meters. It is trimmed as a rather tall hedge and has to be irrigated frequently. This hedge inhabits numerous branches with flowers, and even some dying culms show merely flowers and no leaves.
(016) Bambusa glaucophylla
Thai people like trimmed plants, and plants of the species Bambusa glaucophylla provide best conditions to be shaped into balls. Examples can be seen on a sunny lawn slope near the central lake. However, a few balls partly reverted to the green wild form of Bambusa glaucophylla and run out of shape.
(017) Bambusa vulgaris cv. Wamin
What is possible to be shaped as a ball is not restricted to Bambusa glaucophylla. Buddha's Belly Bamboo (Bambusa vulgaris cv. Wamin) has proven to be useful for same treatment, and the shortened, inflated stems of this bamboo, usually proudly shown by cutting off branches, are bashfully covered by a mass of trimmed foliage.
(018) Bambusa blumeana — ไผ่สรีสุก (phai si suk)
Another thorny bamboo with old culms pale orange-yellow; it becomes a giant and is found wild and frequently cultivated in rural areas around Chiang Mai.
(019) Pleioblastus sp. ?
A low bamboo which seems to be a species of Pleioblastus from temperate regions of China or Japan was found on a second visit of the Royal Project Garden. As a runner, this bamboo appears on various spots in the garden, and was tried to get under control by cutting it back. The culms are terete, bluish-green, rough to touch, nodes with several branches, one dominant, branching intravaginal, culms sheaths not or late deciduous, hairy, with auricles and long bristles, leaf sheaths green, leaf sheath auricles small, bristles long, leaf sheath ligule inconspicuous or none, leaf blades small to medium-sized, green, glabrous, slightly pubescent beneath when young.
