Chusquea is a genus of approximately 193 species of evergreen bamboos in the grass family Poaceae, order Poales. Native primarily to mountain habitats in Latin America — from Mexico south through Central America to southern Chile and Argentina — these plants are sometimes collectively called South American mountain bamboos.
One of the most distinctive features of Chusquea is that its culms (stems) are solid rather than hollow, unlike the majority of other bamboo genera and grasses. This characteristic makes the canes particularly dense and durable, and it is a reliable field identification character across the genus.
The genus is ecologically significant in Andean and sub-Andean forests, where several animal species are closely associated with Chusquea stands. The Inca wren (Pheugopedius eisenmanni), the small marsupial monito del monte (Dromiciops gliroides), and the plushcap (Catamblyrhynchus diadema) all depend on or regularly exploit Chusquea thickets for food, shelter, or nesting.
Among the most widely known members is Chusquea culeou, the Chilean feather bamboo or colihue, native to southern Chile and adjacent western Argentina. It is considered the most frost-tolerant South American bamboo and the only species successfully established as an ornamental in temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, including Scotland. The colihue was a culturally important plant for the Mapuche people, who used its canes for musical instruments and as lance shafts during the War of Arauco. Another notable species, Chusquea quila (quila), produces spreading, vine-like growth in wet lowland habitats and forms dense single-species stands called quilantales, beneath which little else can grow.
Taxonomically, Chusquea was described by Kunth in 1822 and has since been expanded to absorb several formerly separate genera including Dendragrostis, Rettbergia, Swallenochloa, and Neurolepis. Three subgenera are recognized, though molecular data firmly support the monophyly of only subg. Rettbergia.
Etymology
The genus name Chusquea derives from a vernacular name used for these bamboos in parts of South America. It was formally established by Carl Sigismund Kunth in Synopsis Plantarum Aequinoctialium (1822).
Distribution
Chusquea species are distributed across Latin America, from Mexico and Central America south through the Andes and surrounding lowlands to southern Chile and Argentina. The genus reaches its greatest diversity in Andean montane forests, where many species grow at mid- to high elevations. A few species, such as C. quila, extend into wetter coastal and lowland habitats below 500 m.
Ecology
Chusquea bamboos play important structural roles in Andean forests and shrublands. Dense stands provide habitat and food for specialist wildlife: the Inca wren, the marsupial monito del monte, and the plushcap are among the fauna associated with these thickets. Chusquea quila forms near-impenetrable monospecific stands (quilantales) that strongly suppress understory diversity. Like many bamboos, Chusquea species are mast-seeding (flowering gregariously at long intervals), and in Chile these events have historically been followed by surges in rodent populations, as mice exploit the sudden seed abundance.
Cultural Uses
The colihue (Chusquea culeou) was traditionally used by the Mapuche of southern Chile and Argentina for making musical instruments and as lance shafts during the War of Arauco. Across Chile, Chusquea seeds produced during mast-flowering events have been harvested as a food resource by indigenous peoples for generations, though the same events trigger mouse population explosions that historically caused crop damage.
Taxonomy Notes
Chusquea Kunth (1822) is placed in tribe Bambuseae, family Poaceae. The genus has been expanded to incorporate species formerly classified in Dendragrostis, Rettbergia, Swallenochloa, and Neurolepis. Three subgenera are recognized — subg. Rettbergia, subg. Swallenochloa, and subg. Chusquea — but molecular phylogenetic studies support monophyly only for subg. Rettbergia; the circumscription of the other two subgenera remains under revision. GBIF backbone records 234 descendant taxa.
