I got this bamboo from a friend who does bonsai and did not know the ID of the bamboo, and despite observing it for two seasons now, I've not been able to ID it. The shoot this season is large for a pot, nearly 3/4" and will probably hit 4' tall. I want to liberate it from this pot, but would like to know what it is first so I place it well.

The shoot is nearly all green, with a few purplish brown spots on lower culm sheaths, thin green blades. I have thought it is a Phyllostachys, but most of the culms have only one branch at the lower nodes.

Photos at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/13985441@N00/

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John Eden
Jesup GA

I don't grow it so this is merely a guess but your shoot to my eye looks like Phy. bambusoides, it (culm leaves) may darken up more as the plant matures. The yellow/green stripes on the blade tips plus the oral setae are what make me think so, without the oral setae I would have guessed Viridis, immature viridis shoots also have them but usually they are gone by the time the shoots starts to darken as yours is. Perhaps aurea is another possibility but the tip isn't blady enough...

If you select any photo from the dbase here there are 2 lines of html code that you can cut & paste into a thread. If I were to want to insert a photo directly in the thread, I would select any photo from the dbase and paste it in my thread. Then I would replace the actual photo address from that with my actual photo address - in between the html code. I THINK that would work, I've not tried it yet. Of course, you could just learn the same html and type it in with the correct addy I suppose....

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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/

Thanks for your analysis... bambusoids was what I kinda thought all along, but then the shoot is so green - doesn't look like the bambusoids shoots I'm used to seeing, tho I may be remembering much larger ones, so they may look different. The other issue that has confused me is the branches.

The old culms have one branch at the lower nodes, two at the upper ones. According to "The Book" (Farrelly) this is not consistent with Phyllostachys. Again, it just may be the size, or the bonsai process has altered things.

As it's growing, I see that the culm sheaths above about four up have no visible auricles or oral setae, and the blades are increasingly yellow on the basal edges... So I'm looking at Pleioblastus, Semiarundinaria, and Sinobambusa now... lots of choices!

Thanks for your contribution to the search! Has helped me look more closely.

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John Eden
Jesup GA

Not having bambusoides I'm not sure what the oral setae generally looks like but my book says they are present but 'sparse'. Hopefully someone who grows it and aurea will weigh in.

Young shoots can look very different and small plants may have odd branching but the shoot with the yellow bands is starting to darken like a mature shoot and I think you should stay on the Phyllostachys path, as I said all of the forms of viridis, aurea, and bambusoides have the yellow blade edging - is there a sulcus fully from node to node? Semiarundinaria, Pleioblastus, etc. can have partial sulcus but it tends to narrow and fade below the above node, the Phy's run all the way.

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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/

Yes, the sulcus runs all the way - at least as best I can tell as some of the culms were cut off. I'll keep looking at the Phy.'s - I'm happy with that, as they're my favorites! I have lots of grove P. Bambusoids, so when it shoots - which should be soon! - I'll look at some of the smaller ones and see if they match.

It's just the weird branching - single on lower and upper nodes, doubles in the middle - that make me wonder if it's Phy.

Again, thanks for your help in sorting this out.

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John Eden
Jesup GA