I Hope you could help me with the id of these two wonderful plants I got 4 years ago. I will break this up in two posts since it will only allow a few photos. When I got the plants they were about 1 1/2 foot high. I was told one was a "Timber" and the other was a "Phyllostachys V"...yes, I got them on-line. lol. The first one I am going to post always comes up at least 3 weeks or more before the second.

They both look the same to me except this plant has lighter culms coming up than the second plant.

If you need other pics, let me know.

Diane

It appears to be one of the aurea family. Are there any compressed lower nodes?

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

I would have to disagree, I don't see any compressed nodes or lower branching that I have on my ph Aurea. The older culms are not green enough to be Japanese Timber, ph Bambusoides and the shoots don't look like Moso. I have no guess to what it is, but don't think it's any of those 3.

Looks like aurea to me, you won't always have the internode compression.

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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/

I thought they were all compressed, my bad. Went back and looked closely at mine and found a couple not compressed. Guess I'll have to agree with you guys.

Could also be aurea 'Takemurai' or Phyllostachys meyeri, but I can attest to the fact that sometimes you can have lots of aurea culms without compressions the same way you can have a grove of yellowgroove with hardly any zigzags.

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God Bless,

Matthew

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Genesis 2:8 And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there He put the man whom He had formed.

Is this Phyllostachys Vivax the same as aurea? If it is than DARN. I bought these plants on E-bay and was told one was Phyllostachys nigra 'Henon' and the other was Phyllostachys vivax~Timber (just looked up what I purchased 4 years ago) it is quite disappointing. Almost want to rip it out and get the right plants! I wanted the culms to be very large and farther apart. Thanks for helping me.

There's no need to rip them out. You can just let the shoots finish branching out, get a lopper and cut them all to soil lvl, and the rhizomes should be almost completely drained with maybe a bit of survival growth so you can put a new bamboo in the same spot. 18-25ft height potential for aurea isn't that bad, but you're in the south so that might not satisfy your desires.

If you post a thread on the exchanges forum and request timber bamboos, I'm pretty sure someone here has some to share.

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

http://stevespeonygarden.blogspot.com/

I don't know why you guys seem to rule out vivax. Based on my untrained eye and google skill, it does look like one of the vivax clones.

The one with lighter coloring would be Henon (I think).

I wouldn't say that vivax has been definitively eliminated but when attempting to ID bamboos the color/markings of the protective leaves that wrap new shoots is a good guide along with the shape/color of the blades at the tip of the shoot. The shoots in the photo are a bit too developed to see it truly for sure, when they are a little 'younger'/shorter it can be helpful. Vivax will have crinkly blade leaves initially and aurea will have long ribbony blades such as in the photos. That combined with the look of the new culms - aurea culms seem to be a tad wider at the node with a slight ) ( look to them.

When trying to ID bamboo the markings on the shoot leaves, the presence of oral setae, the shape & size of the auricles (I am not well versed in this for sure), the timing of the shooting, the size/development of the bamboo, the shape of the internodes, and how common a given species is in the area all factor in. Having said all that, the spots on the shoot leaves here looked a little un-aurea like to me but the blade tips and culms look right.

Generally with aurea the nodes on at least a couple of the young culms will be swollen looking even when there are not compressed internodes so if the original poster can find and post photos of this then aurea could likely be confirmed. There are only a few common bamboo that have the long ribbony shoot blade tips like this, meyerii, viridis, glauca, iridescens also do but the other characteristics of these shoots don't seem a good fit for these photos.

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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/

Diane- I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I can say with 100% certainty that neither plant is vivax, or henon, and with almost the same certainty that both are aurea.

To make sure you get what you pay for you should visit and buy from a bamboo nursery, and there are several good ones in AL. If you are ever in the Murfreesboro, TN area we will be happy to show you around our place and you can see mature vivax and henon groves.

If you want large timber bamboo, aurea will never really satisfy you. You have lots of good timber bamboo choices that will grow well in your area. A few are viridis, vivax, moso, dulcis, henon, and bory, but there are lots of others that might pique your interest.

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

David, I think I am going to take you up on your offer. It is not that far at all for me. Thank you very much....all of you. I am so glad I found this forum. I am learning so much.

Diane, As you say we are just up the road from Huntsville. You can PM or email me through this site, and we can arrange a good time for both of us.

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