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In the scientific name Bambusa tulda, I would like to know what tulda (tuldus?) means.

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    A quick search in a good dictionary does not suggest any related terms. Note that words in scientific names do not need to be Latin: latinized borrowings are enough.
    – Rafael
    Feb 27, 2019 at 21:08
  • It seems latinising was unnecessary; a local name tulda looked near enough Latin.
    – Hugh
    Feb 28, 2019 at 1:21

1 Answer 1

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Bambusa tulda Roxb.
synonym Dendrocalamus tulda (Roxb.) Voigt

In the Monaco Nature Encyclopedia, Giuseppe Mazza writes:

The name of the genus comes from the local Malay name “bambu”; the specific name is the local one, tulda bans, in Bengali language.

Roxb. refers to the botanist who listed the name:

Dr William Roxburgh FRSE FRCPE FLS (3 or 29 June 1751 – 18 February 1815) a Scottish surgeon and botanist known as the founding father of Indian botany. He sent many illustrations to Sir Joseph Banks, who in May 1795, started publishing Plants of the coast of Coromandel in 3 volumes with over 300 drawings and descriptions of plants. (Wikipedia)

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    Note that Roxb. is not part of either name. It is common practice in binomial names to append the surname of the scientist that named the species (and sometimes also the year), among other reasons, for attribution and ease of controversy resolution.
    – Rafael
    Feb 28, 2019 at 13:32

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