I'm trying to help someone ID a bamboo that was growing in a grove in North Carolina. The grove was completely cut down, so what he has to go on are pieces of culms lying on the ground, plus some new, small shoots coming up from the rhizomes.

Here is what he told me:

The old culms were about 2" in diameter. There were some 'hairs' on the nodes, but I think the internodes are much too long for something like Moso....some of the older culms were lying around- some were spotting black, like they were turning- but the culms have practically no grooves like nigra; also, the internodes are not very prominent at all. The new culms are only about 3' tall and .25" diameter, if that. The new culms are green and the old ones, as you can see, have black speckling- a couple of them have sections that were totally black- and that happened on one side, as if it might have been the sunny side. The only thing making me question 'nigra' at all is the unusual 'rounded-ness' of the culms - the nodes aren't prominent, neither are the sulcus grooves. But what else could it be, right? The leaves are emerald green, and the largest 'stump' I could find was about 2". Most of the nodes on the larger culms from last year (4'-6') are sporting three branches. Not only that, but each triplet of branches seems to have a small, medium, and large branch, totally unlike my P. aurea, which has two identical branches at each node. Oh, also, the upper section of the culms DO have a noticeable sulcus and a more prominent node.

In looking at the photos he took, I can't figure out if the coloration on the old, downed culms is simply from decay and mold or if it shows the remnants of nigra coloration. So please check out these photos and give me your speculations.

Hello Gil,

I'm thinking Ps. amabilis, or perhaps a form of semiarundinaria. The culm roundness you speak of is very typical of the pseudosasas and semiarundinaria. The long internodes and lack of sulcus on the lower nodes speaks to amabilis, and it is the only 2 incher in the bunch. It also has a hairy culm. I see that black coloration on culms that I thin during the summer growth and that lie wintering in the sun. I don't think it's a phyllostachys.

Regards,

David

_________________
David Arnold
Middle Tennessee Bamboo Farm
USDA zone 6b/7a

Hmmm Gil, those pics look alot like the older culms I pulled from the 50+ gal P. Nigra I divided up last month.

_________________
Blessings,
CJ
New business Venture
come take a look
www.2plus7.com/CJClute

Gil, I noticed that same dark splotching on a dead Atrovaginata culm so I think that the dark spots are not a sign of Nigra, just a way that dead cane can look.

_________________
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/