Bamboo forms an important component of the tropical forests of South and Southeast Asia and provides livelihood requirements to a large number of forest fringe communities. Large-scale destruction of habitats and over-harvesting of many economically important species of barn boo has led to irreversible loss of its genetic diversity. Thus, in recent years there has been an increasing concern over the conservation of genetic resources of bamboo. However, for most species of bamboo, critical information on the extent of intra-specific genetic variability of the populations is unavailable. In this direction, we have examined the population genetic variability of Dendrocalamus strictus and Bambusa bambos, the most important species of bamboo in the Central Western Ghats, India. The study shows that the two species exhibit strikingly contrasting patterns in the distribution of genetic variability. While the diversity of D. strictus was higher in the northern latitudes, the diversity of B. bambos was higher in the southern latitudes. These findings could have important implications for conservation and management of genetic resources of bamboo in the Central Western Ghats, India.