I've been wondering; Are all of these simply different cultivators of dulcis which came about perhaps due to a seeding event in the past? As far as I've found on the internet, there's McClure, shanghai, shanghai 2, shanghai 3, anji, and hummel kew.

McClure
http://bambus-lexikon.eu/phyllostachys-dulcis.html

shanghai 6-10M; -18 to -25C; Reddish hue on shoots
http://brasestruck6.de/dulcis-cv-shanghai.html

Shanghai 2 6-10M; -18 to -24C; Longer sheath blades
http://bambus-lexikon.eu/phyllostachys- ... hai-2.html

shanghai 3 6-10M; -18 to -25C; Darkest shoots
http://bambus-lexikon.eu/phyllostachys- ... hai-3.html

anji -18 to -22C
http://brasestruck6.de/dulcis-cv-anjii.html

hummel kew 6-13M; -18 to -25C; Yellow striping on lower culm nodes on some culms
http://brasestruck6.de/vivax-cv-hummel-kew.html

It looks like they are have the bulky looking shoots, fat culms, short branches, big leaves and prominent white rings below each node. I don't think I would be able to tell them apart, and it looks like the only possible distinguishing feature seems to be the variations in the sheath patterns.

This website has the most varieties of phyllostachys out of any of them I've seen. It lists propinqua as the hardiest at -19 to -27C and edulis as the tallest at 27M. I'm impressed that there are so many of these species that still haven't been introduced to the U.S.

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/31489820@N02/

http://stevespeonygarden.blogspot.com/

I think there must be several different forms, mine does not look like the shoots in David's photos at all, the blade tips are more ribbony/less krinkled and has much darker sheaths than any of the photos in your link. Portions of the sheaths on mine are almost solid dark brown the spotting is so strong, my 'parent' grove had yellow striping on the culms but it does not match to any of these photos. I'll look again but I think the leaves are longer on mine as well.

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Brad Salmon, zone 5b/6 Southern Indiana
Winters -20 to -25C. Summers 30 to 35C , humid. 115 cm annual precipitation, frost free from May through early October. 259.3 meters elevation. Growing 150+ species. http://www.needmorebamboo.com/

Based on the Bambus Lexikon forms of dulcis, mine seems to match closest to the Hummel Kew cultivator http://brasestruck6.de/vivax-cv-hummel-kew.html

I base this on the greenish sheath blades, blotch patterns of spots, thin dark margins, and the fat appearance of new shoots. Those pictures also show culms growing closely which matches the near clumping behavior of mine. Obviously it doesn't look like an exact match, but it may be a seedling from this dulcis if it flowered not too long ago. It may be that there are many entirely different species of bamboo under the name of dulcis.

Here are a few pictures showing clearly some of the characteristics of mine.

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/31489820@N02/

http://stevespeonygarden.blogspot.com/

If I could only own one bamboo, it would be dulcis. Mine is clumpy, and trumpets out at the base more so than other species. The color of one year old canes is a striking natural green. It seems happy in alkaline soil, much like most garden vegetables, unlike most plants. Perhaps if there are different versions of dulcis, it is because it has been cultivated for flavor and people have different tastes.


MinDFW

What you are saying makes a lot of sense and that is one theory behind Shanghai 3, whether Vivax or Dulcis it was likely isolated for its shoot flavor and planted in a village for easy access.

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Brad Salmon, zone 5b/6 Southern Indiana
Winters -20 to -25C. Summers 30 to 35C , humid. 115 cm annual precipitation, frost free from May through early October. 259.3 meters elevation. Growing 150+ species. http://www.needmorebamboo.com/

Now that I think about it, dulcis does look like a domesticated bamboo likely chosen for shoot production so it is possible that many versions of it have come up over thousands of years of harvest. It has likely seeded many times from the start, and villagers may be choosing the best possible traits resulting in a large diversity.

If one of the dulcis cultivators is purposely cultivated to grow like a clumper, even in warmer climates, the purpose of that may be aimed towards maximizing the number of shoots that are produced per acre, especially when the villagers don't want to walk too far to collect the new shoots.

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/31489820@N02/

http://stevespeonygarden.blogspot.com/

One thing that I have noticed with dulcis is that rhizomes really don't grow much in the summer or fall. When they do grow, it seems like having 1 inch rhizomes, and very short rhizome internodes doesn't allow them to move very far. Dry conditions slow it down even more.

One thing that I have found is that the main rhizome crop on dulcis is typically produced in the spring by around April here when rhizomes grow, and turn upwards on their own approximately 1 week after the normal shoots appear. More rhizome mass seems to be produced in April than any other time of the year as it seems to be the only time that the ground is moist enough to trigger rhizome growth. Is this a typical pattern of growth for a lot of bamboos, or is this species & climate related?

It seems like most of the starches are stored within the culms throughout the summer, fall and winter, then they are rapidly transferred down into the rhizome systems as the bamboo goes out of dormancy in the spring, perhaps when soil temperatures exceed 50F. The rhizome growth typically comes to a halt once shoots start growing faster in May.

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/31489820@N02/

http://stevespeonygarden.blogspot.com/

Compared to what I have observed with it, your observations are some weird local thing you have going on and not typical at all.

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Brad Salmon, zone 5b/6 Southern Indiana
Winters -20 to -25C. Summers 30 to 35C , humid. 115 cm annual precipitation, frost free from May through early October. 259.3 meters elevation. Growing 150+ species. http://www.needmorebamboo.com/

How do you measure this? Are you going only on the appearance of above-ground rhizomes?

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Alan.
My blog: It's not work, it's gardening!

I usually have a layer of tree leaves & manure that keep the ground moistened, and the tap roots form the rhizomes will show themselves. Based on their development, it is pretty easy to tell how long ago that rhizome formed. I can further confirm that they are brand new when I check them to see that the sheaths are still on, and the entire rhizome that leads to the whip shoot is still fairly soft meaning that it had to have emerged in the spring. Some of these whip shoots emerged a bit over 2ft away from the main clump which may mark the potential spread for next year's shoots.

Here's a picture showing how much organic material I had on my dulcis in the spring which means that roots are easily spotted right below that layer given that it is moist enough, and I can basically tell where the rhizomes are as well as the direction they are headed.

This picture is from 9 months ago on a windy day

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/31489820@N02/

http://stevespeonygarden.blogspot.com/

Isn't it possible that throughout the summer there is deeper rhizome growth, and you're seeing the upper rhizomes growing in April only because that soil is the warmest?

I'd be surprised if there weren't rhizomes growing during the summer, unless you were getting no precip at all.

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Alan.
My blog: It's not work, it's gardening!

I haven't been checking deep for rhizomes, but over the summer, the soil around the grove is usually dry because there are too many surrounding trees that seem to suck a lot of water out of that spot where the dulcis is growing. It seems like there needs to be consistent rain over the summer in order to keep the soil there wet. In the later summer and fall, we did start getting some wet weather so some rhizome growth started, but it was already to late to help the grove expand a few feet so I expect it to pick back up in the spring before all the energy gets expended in the shooting season.

There could be some deeper rhizomes growing, but I doubt they would have run much as deeper rhizomes tend to be even fatter which causes them to meet more resistance.


I have seen this to a lesser extent on some other bamboos. They seem to start running rhizomes as it warms up in the spring, and then something seems to trigger all the rhizomes to turn into whip shoots right when the temperatures get warm enough for the shooting season to take place. Last spring it seemed to happen a lot since we had summer like temperatures already in March, and the soil temperature remained warm enough for rhizomes to continue growing, but not enough to cause shooting on most bamboos.

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/31489820@N02/

http://stevespeonygarden.blogspot.com/

We can put all this speculation to rest when Steve's wife gets that bonus and Steve gets one of those new, ultra-sound three-d root cameras for Christmas. Why hell yeah- there's perks to being "friends with Steve".


MinDFW

Any kind of plant, one of the first things I like to do is study it's roots. Does it play well, does it go deep, does it contribute to the the ecology, just what is going on? It's a whole world down there. I also like to go spelunking.


MinDFW

I once got lost in a henon grove and it was a truely underworld experience. I had my walkman on and was listening to the fourth album of Led Zeppelen, but I never let panic set in as I leaned back on my trusty boy scout background.


MinDFW