Page 1 of 1

how to identify bambusa oldhamii

Posted: Wed Mar 08, 2017 4:00 pm
by kestrelconstruction
hello all, I am new to the forum. I am looking to purchase some bambusa oldhamii and i live on the central coast of CA. There are a few people selling some locally, but i want to be confident that i am buying old hamii. Can someone give me a comprehensive idea on how to identify this bamboo from others?I am aware of some obvious things to get me started, no sulcis, vertical growth, clumped, green not yellow.
thanks

Re: how to identify bambusa oldhamii

Posted: Wed Mar 08, 2017 4:19 pm
by needmore
Greetings, I don't really have any specific tips to help you but Oldhamii leaves are generally different that most of the bamboo sold around here. If you can visit some nurseries that have it labelled, and if properly so, you'll notice that the culms in the pot will upsize pretty quickly and will have longer, wider leaves - WAY longer and wider than any of the multiplex forms. The oldhamii I see at nurseries around Sac generally the pots are the same, you'll see the stump of the original culm that was cut for the division, then some thin, olive to gold'ish new culms that sprouted from that, then newer much larger greener culms. In your area there may be other forms of Bambusa that are in nurseries and look similat but around here not much else has leaves the size of oldhamii. If there are no larger culms though then the leaves may still be smaller.

If you get to visit the parent plant then you'll notice that Oldhamii is usually extremely vertical and looks quite tall for the clump diameter.