Mautam

Mautam (Mizo, ’bamboo death’; also spelled mautaam) is a cyclic ecological phenomenon that occurs every 48 years in the northeastern Indian states of Mizoram and Manipur, which are thirty percent covered by wild bamboo forests, as well as Chin State in Burma, particularly Hakha, Thantlang, Falam, Paletwa and Matupi Townships, creating a widespread famine in those areas. At this time, Melocanna baccifera, a species of bamboo, flowers at one time across a wide area.