Since Brad wrote of his conclusion that his Phyllostachys incarnata is actually Phyllostachys nuda localis, David shared a very clear side by side photo comparison in an earlier post:
In contrast, here's a photo from China of Phyllostachys incarnata:
The bamboo I purchased as Phyllostachys incarnata also came from the same source that David reported and I've also observed correlations. Besides the purple stripes and splotches on the culm sheaths consistent with nuda localis, the shooting time here has roughly coincided with Lance's Ph. nuda in the same zone. So too after I incidentally posted an image of shoot damage, Steve guessed the species as nuda.
A lone detail that conflicted with book descriptions of Ph. nuda is the presence of oral setae. However upon a more thorough inspection, such setae only appear sporadically. Perhaps related to the manifestation of this characteristic, this bamboo plant here has suffered top kill in typical winters and still remains small.
I can see why they call incarnata "red shell bamboo". I'm renaming my misidentified plant 'incarnata Boo Boo'. I wonder if anyone actually has the correct plant?
David Arnold
Middle Tennessee Bamboo Farm
USDA zone 6b
FOC | Family List | FOC Vol. 22 | Poaceae | Phyllostachys
31. Phyllostachys incarnata T. H. Wen, Bull. Bot. Res., Harbin. 2(1): 65. 1982.
红壳雷竹 hong ke lei zhu
Phyllostachys primotina T. H. Wen.
Culms to 8 m, ca. 4.5 cm in diam.; internodes ca. 20 cm, initially thickly white powdery especially below nodes, glabrous; wall ca. 5 mm thick; nodal ridge flat, as prominent as sheath scar, or raised and more prominent than sheath scar in slender culms. Culm sheaths brown-red or distally green on slender culms, sparsely small spotted, denser proximally, sometimes obscurely blotched, sparsely strigose on large culms, glabrous on small culms; auricles purple-brown, falcate; oral setae flexuose, purple; ligule arcuate or subtruncate, relatively tall, margin with long or shorter, dark purple or gray-white cilia; blade erect or reflexed, green to purple-brown, triangular to linear-triangular, wavy. Leaves 3 or 4 per ultimate branch; auricles purple-green, ovate or suborbicular; oral setae radiate; ligule faintly purple, ca. 2 mm or more, narrowed upward, margin with long, slender cilia, apex obtuse; blade to 13 × 1.5 cm, abaxially puberulent or glabrous except at base, adaxially glabrous. Flowering branchlets spicate; spikelets with 2 or 3 florets. Glumes 1 or 2; lemma ca. 2.2 cm, densely pubescent especially toward apex; palea ca. 1.8 cm, pilose; lodicules ca. 4 mm. Anthers ca. 7 mm. Stigmas 3. New shoots Apr–May, fl. Apr–May. 2n = 48*.
* Cultivated. Fujian, Zhejiang.
This species is grown principally for its long season of prolific edible shoot production.
David Arnold
Middle Tennessee Bamboo Farm
USDA zone 6b
Iowaboo wrote:I was thinking I got incarnata from David in the past, but actually had incarnata and iridescens wrote down for one bamboo. I keep lousy records.
I've noticed how distinctive the culms of 'localis' are. On the new shoots the internodes change from black to green as you move up from node to node.
The legal issues that will arise when the undead walk the earth are legion, and addressing them all is well beyond what could reasonably be accomplished in this brief Essay. Indeed, a complete treatment of the tax issues alone would require several volumes.
An interesting turn on this for me, yesterday I was thinning out my little patch of not incarnata but now nuda 'Localis', since I have a bigger grove of Localis I was pretty free to whack this one back. I do believe our ID is at least close, but now I am intrigued...I've always noticed that the culms on this are slightly different from my other Localis, they are a very different green - lighter, more olive'ish with some hint of yellow; the white ring at the nodes remains prominent and there are very small splotches of brown on the lower canes. Yesterday though when I scooped up the cut canes I noticed that the sulcus remains a very different green from the non-sulcus green, it continues up for several nodes and then fades. Never noticed it before so I don't know how long it takes for this to appear, the new canes are very dusky smoky like nuda should be, so no chance to see it on them. I don't know the age of the ones that had the green but 1-2 years at most I'd guess. Now I find that I instead on culling another patch of Localis this may well be either a different form of nuda or at least of Localis, mine came from Bamboo Plantation as I think David's and thus JD's must have - do you see this unique coloration I describe?
Brad, I looked through the incarnata boo boo grove, but did not find the sulcus to be a different color. I looked at the last several years of culms and noticed no difference in the sulcus color, but I did notice that the brown splotching on 2 year old culms and older continued 6-8 feet up the culms. This finding was consistent and seemed similar to the brown splotching at the base of the culm and tended to group near the nodes. It did not appear to be damage.
David Arnold
Middle Tennessee Bamboo Farm
USDA zone 6b
needmore wrote:I've always noticed that the culms on this are slightly different from my other Localis, they are a very different green - lighter, more olive'ish with some hint of yellow; the white ring at the nodes remains prominent and there are very small splotches of brown on the lower canes.
The nuda 'localis boo boo' here also shows some splotches of brown, but I cannot say how much is due to winter wind damage.
For example, some exposed surviving culms of the Ph. aureosulcata here also show dark blotches from the winter.
Perhaps you can share a photo of the coloring and splotch pattern.
needmore wrote:
Yesterday though when I scooped up the cut canes I noticed that the sulcus remains a very different green from the non-sulcus green, it continues up for several nodes and then fades.
Unfortunately, winter doesn't tend to allow these culms here to remain green. Exposed culms of this bamboo tend to die or suffer discoloration and weakened leaf growth. The new culms appear dark olive green with blackening near some nodes as expected.
David wrote:I recently acquired primotina, but it is very small [...]
David, have you any photos of the new shoots of your primotina?
David wrote:Could that be from a difference in sun bleaching? Mine are not in enough sun to turn yellow.
Do you mean the difference between the sulcus green and the non-sulcus on this planting or the diff between this Localis and my other one? Could be that the culms bleach but not the sulcus? Funny thing is to my eye the green in the sulcus is a hue that I never seen the culms turn, the photos don't show so well but it is a more vibrant green. I will try and watch the new canes this year as they fade from that dark dusky green to see if they ever turn a vibrant green and then sun bleach to yellow as you suggest.
I was not clear. I was wondering about the plant in the picture as to whether or not the sun could have been shaded somewhat by the depression of the sulcus and caused the different shade of green. As you say, it is difficult to tell true colors from the pics. I have a nuda localis in complete sun that does not show any difference in sulcus color, and one in filtered sunlight only.
That would be an interesting variation to the nuda family.
David Arnold
Middle Tennessee Bamboo Farm
USDA zone 6b
