this one has me scratchin my head

Flashburn · **Posted:** Mon Jan 26, 2009 3:07 am

It looks to me like a phyllostachy but its a clumper. The base is like coffee cups stacked on top of each other at opposing angles.

any ideas? Oh its mature 15 plus years old and about 15 feet tall

bambookid524 · **Posted:** Mon Jan 26, 2009 3:33 am

Well I'm pretty sure it's a phyllostachys. But the compressed nodes at the bottom look different and the fact that it hasn't spread in 15 years...

Hmmmmmmm... That's a good one.
Maybe a deformed, slow ph. Aurea?

Roy · **Posted:** Mon Jan 26, 2009 3:54 am

Phyllostachys aurea

ghmerrill · **Posted:** Mon Jan 26, 2009 4:37 am

it does look like P. aurea. I have one that has done the same thing. no spread at all, grows in a tight clump. any divisions I have taken off of it all run like normal P. aurea though, so no luck on a "magic" aurea.

Flashburn · **Posted:** Mon Jan 26, 2009 6:43 am

well I am not betting against Roy.

this might be a result of goats.

one pops off to far from the clump it gets ate?

Bamboo Outlaw · **Posted:** Mon Jan 26, 2009 12:06 pm

Any chance it is planted in a large underground container? I had a friend who bought a house and had Golden all over the back yard growing like this, never spread. It took us a while to find the previous owner had planted these in very large containers.

Roy · **Posted:** Mon Jan 26, 2009 3:29 pm

Other than the "clumping" characteristic, all ID-ing characteristics point to Phyllostachys aurea: Sulcus (groove) running full length from internode to internode, branching pattern, characteristic basal node pattern, and looks like a temperate rhizome in the lower left corner of the last picture.

ghmerrill · **Posted:** Mon Jan 26, 2009 4:32 pm

instead of "Giant bamboo Roy" we are going to have to hang the moniker "Eagle Eye Roy" on you!

Roy · **Posted:** Mon Jan 26, 2009 4:48 pm

ghmerrill wrote:

instead of "Giant bamboo Roy" we are going to have to hang the moniker "Eagle Eye Roy" on you!

What I know is very little about tropical bamboos, compared to the vast amount of knowledge to be known about tropical bamboos, but what I don't know about temperate bamboos is very vast. Something like 99.9999999999999999999999.

dependable · **Posted:** Tue Jan 27, 2009 2:14 am

Those lower culms look a lot like p aurea to me. If it is , it may be contained by unfavorable soil conditions.

ShmuBamboo · **Posted:** Sun Feb 15, 2009 7:23 am

It is obviously Phy. aurea (AKA: Golden). It is obviously a Phyllostachys. No other Phylostachys boo has that type of compressed internode, except Phy. edulis (Moso), and that is a giant timber type of bamboo. Also Phy. aurea is the most common bamboo in Oregon by far.

Several things about your situation that make it seem like it is a pachymorph (clumper) boo rather than a leptomorph (runner). I had huge hedges of that stuff on a farm that I lived in for 4 years south of you near Cottage Grove. Similar situation; been there for over 20 years and it stayed in the same place. It appeared to be a clumper. One reason that they clump in this area (I am up near Portland now) is that we tend to have dry early fall weather here, when the rhizomes are running. Dry clay soil is pretty good at keeping rhizomes from running too far. Once the rains come, the weather tends to get cold and fast, which also retards rhizome growth. The other, and far bigger reason that your bamboos are kept in check is likely to be voles. Voles are notorious for eating bamboo rhizomes and they are prevalent in the entire western Oregon area. Their populations explode in summer months, and by fall there is a new generation hungry to eat anything and everything that they can.

needmore · **Posted:** Sun Feb 15, 2009 2:23 pm

BambooBrother2 wrote:

It is obviously Phy. aurea (AKA: Golden). It is obviously a Phyllostachys. No other Phylostachys boo has that type of compressed internode, except Phy. edulis (Moso), and that is a giant timber type of bamboo.

Phyllostachys heteroclada 'Solidstem' also will have compressed internodes but that is not what he has here. Mine has not started to show these culms yet but the grove mine came from was more mature and had them - solid walking sticks with built in handles and one of the hardier Phyllostachys.

ShmuBamboo · **Posted:** Sun Feb 15, 2009 7:50 pm

I have never seen anothing other than Moso and Golden with tourtise shell interstem compression in Phyllostachys. In Golden it is typical and so common here that it is usually the one aspect that defines a stand. Phy. heteroclada is not very common here, and the 'solidstem' sub-type is rare. The only stands of 'solidstem' that I have seen are at some of the larger boo nurseries, and at my brother's.

In most of the private gardens and stands that I have seen in Oregon, Phy. aurea, Phy. nigra, Ps. japonica, and Phy edulis are by far the most common. However, I have gotten lots of rarer types from some old stands in Eugene, Portland and along the coast that people wanted removed. EVIL BAMBOO!

needmore · **Posted:** Sun Feb 15, 2009 8:26 pm

Steve Ray's Bamboo Garden website has the best picture I've seen on the web of the Solidstem compressed nodes - it may be in our database here?

ShmuBamboo · **Posted:** Tue Feb 17, 2009 7:34 am

I added the web site to my favorites list.

BAMBOOWEB.INFO
HOME Bamboo Find bamboo plants Bamboo Synonyms Products Search for Bamboo Products Photos Bamboo Photos Other Photos Add a Bamboo Photo Add a non-plant Photo Sources Links Forum Wiki FAQ ABS Auction

this one has me scratchin my head

Who is online