Sasa Borealis

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Rufledt
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Sasa Borealis

Post by Rufledt »

Has anyone heard of Sasa Borealis? My last trip to Korea I spotted this at like a museum thing:

Image

It had a sign:

Image

My wife said the sign says it flowers/puts out fruits/seeds every year. Looking it up it seems to be used in many herbal remedies for stuff, using the stems and leaves. Has it been imported? I don't really buy into the whole 'it cures cancer' thing, but it would be cool to use it for tea.

The plant was in Seoul I think, and it appears to have a bit of damage. I know they get cold winters, but I don't know how cold, or if that's even winter damage. It was probably a little taller if I remember right (i'm 5'11")
johnw
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Re: Sasa Borealis

Post by johnw »

It's available under Sasamorpha borealis. Tricky to get going in a pot like many of the Sasas and reputedly hardy but many of these northernmost bamboos have not lived up to that reputation - S. kurilensis in particular. This one however just might fly.

I suspect the damage is due to the tight dry spot it's in.
johnw coastal Nova Scotia
Rufledt
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Re: Sasa Borealis

Post by Rufledt »

Thanks for the info! It was in a pretty terrible location. Also that was a couple years ago just after an unusually cold winter there.The other plants didnt seem to be super well cared for either, more like planted and left.
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needmore
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Re: Sasa Borealis

Post by needmore »

I have a very vigorous patch of it that has not flowered in the 10 years I've had it.
Brad Salmon, zone 12B Kea'au, HI
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Rufledt
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Re: Sasa Borealis

Post by Rufledt »

Never flowered? I wonder if the sign was wrong or it was a different species. Whenever I google "sasa borealis" I get a lot of korean websites with the plant, so they must not have changed to sasamorpha. The english ones are all for pills or stuff made out of sasa borealis, but no plants. My wife is totally fluent in korean and english, so I trust her translation. Maybe the one they have at the museum flowers a lot because it's stressed, or just a different variant? I haven't read anywhere that the seeds are used for any reason, so I guess the flowers are the least important part anyway.
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Re: Sasa Borealis

Post by johnw »

I am trying to get a good sturdy root system on mine here before I plant them out. I think that might be the cause of the problems I've had with S. kurilensis too, still they croaked in to pots with a lot of tlc, never did get them into the landscape. How can these vigorous species be so cantankerous to get established?

Don't know if I'm imagining it but the leaves here look bigger than the ones in your photo.
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SASAMORPHA BOREALIS Halifax-20141003-03295.jpg
johnw coastal Nova Scotia
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needmore
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Re: Sasa Borealis

Post by needmore »

The plant that we have looks more like an Indocalamus, I wonder if we don't have the real deal?
Brad Salmon, zone 12B Kea'au, HI
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johnw
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Re: Sasa Borealis

Post by johnw »

Googling images I'd say the one I have and Brad's look more like the type than the one in the Korean photo which looks more like a Pleioblastus. Hard to tell though as that plant is pretty brutalized.
johnw coastal Nova Scotia
Rufledt
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Re: Sasa Borealis

Post by Rufledt »

Image

That MAY be another photo of the same plant. I didn't exactly catalog my vacation pics, so i'm not certain.

I think the sign might be wrong about yearly flowering. My wife says the plant is supposed to flower in april, and 'ripen' in may/june according to the sign, but we were there the end of may and there are no signs of flowers or seeds that I can see on the pictures. I have higher res photos since google shrinks them all, but the originals don't show much more detail. I have really shaky hands due to a massive coffee addiction, so zooming in just looks fuzzy lol.

The plant in the first photo is probably 6' tall. I wonder if they purchased a tall division of a plant and stuck it in the ground, explaining the damage when they neglected it?

Anyone ever try tea from the leaves? My wife was reading up a bit and found a study reporting 80% success rate in reducing high blood pressure from- get this - North Korea. In case you don't remember, that's the country whose archaeologists discovered a unicorn 'lair' in the mountains, and whose scientists reportedly landed a man on the sun (at night, so he wouldn't get burned, obviously) so i'm guessing their medical studies aren't exactly trustworthy. Does anyone know if the tea at least tastes good?
Tarzanus
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Re: Sasa Borealis

Post by Tarzanus »

Very Pseudosasa looking plant. Perhaps it does flower easily, like some say pseudosasa japonica can.
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