Pleioblastus Chino 'Murakamiansus' Flowering

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JWH
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Pleioblastus Chino 'Murakamiansus' Flowering

Post by JWH »

Noticed flowering tonight on my plant! My first bamboo to flower on me! Excited and sad at the same time...hope it sets viable seed...but also hope it'll recover from flowering. I'd be sad to lose this plant!

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Re: Pleioblastus Chino 'Murakamiansus' Flowering

Post by needmore »

Any chance that could have been mis-ID'd and is actually Pl fortunei? Curious as it is flowering and they look similar.
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Re: Pleioblastus Chino 'Murakamiansus' Flowering

Post by JWH »

Maybe?

I purchased this plant as Pl. Chino 'murakamiansus' a few years back from Bamboo Sourcery.
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Re: Pleioblastus Chino 'Murakamiansus' Flowering

Post by grabhorn »

Is there a list somewhere that tracks who flowered and when?
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Re: Pleioblastus Chino 'Murakamiansus' Flowering

Post by johnw »

The late Betty Shor of the American Bamboo Society tracked flowering. You might contact her husband Don through the ABS to see if the list exists somewhere.
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Re: Pleioblastus Chino 'Murakamiansus' Flowering

Post by JWH »

Is there anything that can positively ID Pl. Chino 'Murakamiansus' VS. Pl. Fortunei 'Dwarf White Stripe'?

My plant has yellow culms:
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No hairs on the undersides of leaves:
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Leaves are 6-8" long X .75-1" wide
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Very bright white variegated leaves:
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Re: Pleioblastus Chino 'Murakamiansus' Flowering

Post by needmore »

I purportedly have both and if so they are distinct to my brain but I couldn't tell you why I think that…I'll look em both over and see what I see.
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Re: Pleioblastus Chino 'Murakamiansus' Flowering

Post by Alan_L »

My Pleio. fortunei flowers had more purple in them than yours seem to -- not sure if that's an identifying trait though, or if the purple fades and yours have already faded.
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Re: Pleioblastus Chino 'Murakamiansus' Flowering

Post by bambooweb »

Betty Shor's flowering records are coming to bambooweb.
Her son Don gave me the information to post as a tribute to her and people can continue to add new records to her work.

If you go to "Find bamboo plants" in the menu then enter the information and hit the Find button it brings up a list of plants and in the right column under the camera for photos is a MORE link. That will take you to a new bamboo information page.

I have only added a few species worth of flowering data from her 189 pages of records so not many are there. I started from the back so there is information on the Yushania and Thyrsostachys species and a few others.

If anyone would like to help enter flowering data please contact me. I need all the help I can get.

Flowering data for Pleioblastus chino murakamianus
1990: Great Britain, Fordingbridge, England (flowering records by David McClintock and Mike Bell, 1992): "even the seeds are variegated."
1992, May: Benicia, California, U.S.A. (David King, SCC News., Aug. 1992, p. 4 [from NCC News.]).
1994: Great Britain, Fordingbridge, Hampshire, England (Flowering Records by David McClintock and Mike Bell, 1994).
1995: Great Britain, Kenninghall, Norfolk, England (Flowering Records by David McClintock and Mike Bell, 1995). Seedlings all green.
1997, April: San Francisco, California, U.S.A. (letter from CraigThiessen 25 Jan. 1999): he bought a small plant at that time that had some flowers; the grower said that his plants had been flowering for a while but not dying. The purchased plant was still healthy in Jan. 1999.
1995, June: El Sobrante (northern California near San Francisco), California, U.S.A.: flowering quite heavily (e-mail from Robert Johannessen).
1997: Great Britain, Drysdale, Hampshire (1997 list by Mike Bell, England): seeds.
1997, June: La Jolla (near San Diego), California, U.S.A.: Betty Shor reports that one plant in a 1-gallon pot has two flowering stalks; one had a few seeds (still a bit green); she planted them but they had not sprouted by August 1997 (and were discarded a few months later).
1999: Canada, Sechelt, British Columbia (e-mail from Brian Phillips 2 July 2000): this apparently seeded during 1999, which he noticed at this time.
1999, June: Gold Beach, Oregon, U.S.A. (e-mail from Gib Cooper 29 June 1999): a number flowering in 1-gallon containers.
2000 (and earlier): Great Britain (2000 list by Mike Bell): has been flowering for several years.
2000, April: San Francisco, California, U.S.A. (e-mail from Marco Piazza 30 April 2000): plant that he bought at Bamboo Festival in San Francisco is in flower; probably came from Bob Johannessen, who said it had been flowering for years but continued to look vigorous. He has had seedlings from plants of this species, which always are green, with no variegation.
2001, April: Vista, California, U.S.A. (e-mail from Ralph Evans 24 April 2001): flowering.
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Re: Pleioblastus Chino 'Murakamiansus' Flowering

Post by JWH »

Neat! Sounds like flowering isn't necessarily a death sentence for this one! At least thats what i'm going to hope happens! :P

Thanks for the info Bill!
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Re: Pleioblastus Chino 'Murakamiansus' Flowering

Post by grabhorn »

Brad, have you had a chance to compare yet? I'm very curious.
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Re: Pleioblastus Chino 'Murakamiansus' Flowering

Post by JWH »

The flowers on my Pl. Chino 'murakamiansus' feel like there could be seeds developing inside...

Now, If I only knew how to tell when they are ready, and how to harvest the seeds!
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Re: Pleioblastus Chino 'Murakamiansus' Flowering

Post by needmore »

Yeah, stared at mine and could not think of a way to tell them apart but tried to convince myself the fortunei is a brighter white but I don't really think so.
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Re: Pleioblastus Chino 'Murakamiansus' Flowering

Post by johnw »

JWH - If you can feel seed then you're halfway there. Doesn't of course mean it will sprout but at least there will be seed. Going by my slide dates the Fargesias here flowered in late April and seed was ready by mid-July, so about 10 weeks to ripen & mature. It might be faster in a warmer climate than ours.

When the Fargesias flowered here I kept opening a few flowers to seed how the seed was developing. When it is getting close to ripening you can tied a few culms together and cover them in pantyhose to catch the seeds. With the Farges the culms started to sag with the weight of the growing seeds. When they start to fall it will be safe to collect them all. We put an white bedsheet on the ground under the bamboo and beat the bamboo with a broom to loosen the seeds. Then we cleaned the seeds of the husks and all chafe to prevent rot; that took weeks as we had close to a garbage bag of seeds off murieliae. Be warned that the birds know exactly when the seeds are ripe and they come by the hundreds.

Now that was an extremely heavy flowering session and the year before and after were easier to deal with. Your bamboo may not go as full tilt.

yup that was a heavy nitida session in 2009:
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Re: Pleioblastus Chino 'Murakamiansus' Flowering

Post by JWH »

Thanks John!

I Picked a flower pod this morning and found 2 firm seeds inside, about the size of a piece of wheat.

Not too many flowers on my plant, maybe a dozen or so.
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