Introduction
Bamboos are woody stemmed members of the grass family, Poeceae (Sutatt, 2002), which belong to the family
Bambusoideae. All members of the subfamily can be distinguished from the other grasses by foliage leaf blades which are
attached totheir branchlets by slender leaf stalks or petioles. Other grasses like corn and sugar cane have leaves without
petioles. Bamboos like most other flowering plants, have an aerial portion which is usually green in color. The shoot
system which consists of the stem branches, leaves and inflorescences which bear the flowers of sexual reproduction
(Natthakit, 2003). The utility and impact of bamboo use is far reaching and can been seen throughout the world. The
majority of today's bamboo products come from Asia, most notably China. Even in the United States, bamboo can be
found in nearly every home. It is a versitile plant and we are only limited by are creativity in seeing bamboo reach its full
potential such as flooring, house and kitchen ware, weapon, bio-diesel and biofuels. Phatthalung is one of the oldest
province in southern Thailand. The region is situated with two rainy seasons thus all edemic plants are evergreen tropical
rain forest. Most local people have sustainable work in agriculture and highly skill in handicrafts (Phatthalung, www,
2011). These indigenous people have an old traditional of plant usage that has been handed from generation to generation;
however, still very little is known about traditional bamboo handling and some chemical substances inside this plant. This
presents study aimed to assess for economic bamboos used of native people in Phatthalung province also some
anthraquinone, coumarin and tannin of economic bamboo locally.
Material and Methods
Research area
Phatthalung is a province located in South East Thailand located between 07°6´ and 07°53´ North latitude and
09°44´ East longtitude about 858 km from Bangkok, capital city. This province is limited in the north by Nakhon Si
Thammarat and Songkhla provinces, in the south by Songkhla and Satun provinces, in the west by Trang province and in
the east by Songkhla Lake, the largest natural lake in Thailand. This province is rich in natural resources such as
Thale Noi Ramsar wetland (07°50´ North and 100°08´ East) created in 1975
(Phatthalung, www, 2011) (Fig. 1).
Upon high mountains punctuate lowlands of the region (mean sea level 50-1000 m), the tropical climate is non-
arid with an average temperature 26.7-29.3°C with 78.7% humidity. Rainfall is spread throughout the year (1854 mm)
with a long rainy season from May to October, and short rainy season from November to December.
(Phatthalung, www,
2011)
Phatthalung is ancient south region. It has been settled around 1400 BC in Srivijaya peroid (1300-1800 BC) and
formally known as Mardelong in Malay. Phatthalung province is subdivided into 11 districts. The region is inhibited by
509,072 people (average density of 148.80 persons/km
2
) Most of population are Thai Buddhists, even if Islamic faith is
less than 12%. Many Muslims have some ethnic Malay ancestry and gradually intermarried with the Thais. The majority
of people in this province practice living agriculture
(Phatthalung, www, 2011).
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