Bamboo Identification

With most plants the best way to positively ID them is by their flowers. This is also a great way to ID bamboo but there is a problem - some bamboos only flower every 80 years or so! Given this problem other ways have been developed to positively identify different bamboo species.. Of course some things are obvious such as culm size and color, leaf size, and growth characteristics. This works with many of the Phyllostachys but some of them look very similar and that's when we take a look at the shoots. Since these species only send up shoots (generally) in the spring, this is an exciting time of the year. We found or first new shoots of the spring on March 9. The earliest was P.violescens followed closely by P.h.pubescens (Moso bamboo). I have posted pictures of the P.violescens here. It helps that different species shoot at different times. The two mentioned above are always my earliest and are usually followed by P.aureosulcata (and various forms of this species).

<< This is a shoot of P.aureosulcata. This species began shooting here on about March 23. There are several nice size shoots on the south side of the grove. The shoots sheaths have white stripes on a green and wine background. The oral setae are long and crinkled and the sheath blades at top are lance shaped, green and white striped.

March 22, 2004: The Moso >>
(P.h.pubescens) has been shooting for about 10 days. This shoot is from a small (10 culms) grove that seems to really like where it's at as the new shoots are very numerous and some appear to be nearly 3 inches in diameter. Notice how this shoots splits the ground as it emerges. Nothing else looks quite like Moso. Notice how the entire shoot is covered with hair. The sheaths are dark brown with darker splotches. The many oral setae are wiry and wavy. After Moso culms are fully developed the surface has a soft down that covers it, feeling much like velvet.

Below: Phyllostachys aureosulcata 'Spectabilis'. First sighted on March 18. The shoot was 6 inches tall with other shoots nearby that were 2 inches tall. Probably shooting as of March 16. Some of the characteristics of P.aureosulcata include the white striped sheath with green or wine background. The fine hairs in the close-up image are the oral setae. These are long and crinkled. The pointed sheath blades at the very top of the shoot are broad and triangular as can be seen in the middle image.The oral setae are attached to an oval shaped auricle as you can see on the image on the right.

P.a.Spectabilis shoot. The sheath is vertically white striped on a green or wine back ground.

Same shoot under different lighting. The sheathblade at top is broad and triangular.

Close-up of the P.a.Spectabilis shoot shows the protruding auricle with the long, crinkled oral setae attached. (the oral setae are the little hairs in the picture)

First shoots 03/09/2004: P.violescens
This is always the earliest Phyllostachys species to shoot at our bamboo nursery. The shoots are often killed by a late frost and because of this the grove has been very slow to mature. There is a good crop of shoots this year, about 20 in all. On the left are 4 that are close together, the largest about 1.25 inches in diameter. On the right is a closeup of one of the shoots. Notice the small hairs at the base of the leaf-like blades. These are called oral satae. They are present on some species but not others.

Bamboo Classification

Much of the taxonomy of bamboo has been established by scientist in China, Japan, India, and other eastern countries where bamboo is much more prevalent. Some species may grow for up to 80 years before flowering. Since taxonomist use the flowers of plants to identify most plants, there is some confusion over bamboo names and each year a species or two will have it's name changed. Taxonomist have established the following taxonomy for bamboo:

KINGDOM: Plantae
PHYLUM (DIVISION): Magnoliophyta
CLASS: Liliopsida
SUBCLASS: Commelinidae
ORDER: Cyperales
FAMILY: Gramineae (Poaceae)
SUBFAMILY: Bambusoideae
TRIBE: Bambuseae
SUBTRIBE: bambusinae

Bamboos are further divided into genera and species. Most of the timber bamboos fall into the genus "Phyllostachys".There are many different species of Phyllostachys. For example, the correct name for Black Bamboo is Phyllostachys nigra. Phyllostachy is the genus and nigra is the species. The genus is capitalized and the species is not. To make it a little more confusing there are different "forms" of some species. Phyllostachys nigra (Black Bamboo) has several "forms" or "cultivars" such as P.n. Henon and P. n. Bory, and P. n. Megurichiko.

Sometimes a form or cultivar will have some canes that revert back to the species. My large grove of Robert Young has big yellow canes. Each year a few solid green canes come up. These are Phyllostachys viridis. Robert Young is a cultivar of P. viridis. The cause of this lies in the genes and growth habits of bamboo and I don't pretend to understand.. This is not the same as the bamboo plant creating a new, unique cultivar. This only happens when the bamboo flowers and produces seed. If the seed were planted, it is possible a new cultivar would show up amongh the thousands of new seedlings.

Bamboo Growth Cycle

Bamboo produces new shoots in the spring that will become new canes (culms). A significant percentage of new shoots won't make it. They will get a few inches tall and stop growing. The new bamboo canes will grow for a couple of months until they reach their maximum heigth and diameter. This means a cane that is going to be 4 inches in diameter will come out of the ground that big around and grow to 60 feet plus in about 8 weeks. They will never grow taller or larger than they are after that spurt of growth in one spring. Each cane may live for up to ten years. The bamboo grove changes leaves in the spring with new leaves slowly replacing old ones.

Bamboo grows from a network of rhizomes. Although some people call these roots they are actually a type of modified, underground stem. Culms and roots grow from the rhizomes. When you see a grove of bamboo it is much like one large plant. In the spring new culms (canes) sprout from this network of rhizomes. The sprouts, or shoots, come out of the ground full sized (diameter) and reach their maximum heigth within a couple of months. When the grove of bamboo is still young, "full size" may only be a few feet tall. Once the grove has matured and has a large number of canes, then "full size" can be a cane several inches in diameter and 25 to 65 feet tall! (depending on the species) It's easy to see why bamboo is often said to be the fastest growing plant. Some shoots can grow as much as 2 feet or more in 24 hours. Each individual culm (cane) will live from 5 to 10 years.

There are more than 1400 species of bamboo. The bamboo family is roughly divided into two groups according to their rhizomes. Sympodial (clumping species), and monopodial(running). Almost all of the clumpers are tropical or sub-tropical although a few such as Fargesias, are extremely cold hardy. Many runners are hardy down to -10 degrees F. or lower. Hardy means that they will stay green and leafy down to the rated temperature. Living in Alabama, zone 7b, all the bamboo I grow is the running type(monopodial). Well actually, I grow a few clumpers just for fun but have to move them into the greenhouse each winter. I've got plantings of Bambusa multiplex and B.m.'Alfonse Karr' in the ground but most ever winter they are heavily damaged by the cold (or killed to the ground) and come back from the rhizomes. Because of this they never get mroe than a few feet tall.

Runners vs. Clumpers

Runners and clumpers. I get a lot of email asking for a clumping bamboo. Here in zone 7 runners are about all we can grow. I've been searching for a clumper that will do well in zone 7 but haven't had any luck so far. I've got a couple that have barely survived, but that's about it. A grove of giant running bamboo can be amazing. The canes are spread out and you can walk thru the grove, much like walking thru a forest of small trees. Some species can get 5, 6, perhaps even 7 inches in diameter, and 70 to 80 feet tall. I have dozens of groves of running bamboo and the giants are my favorite. Of course I keep the groves clean, cutting out dead and smaller canes. If this is not done the grove can become a real jungle with dead and leaning canes mixed with the healthy, live canes.

Clumping bamboos are very different. They grow in tight "clumps" with canes very close together. A 20 year old grove of running bamboo may cover an acre or more while a grove of clumping bamboo the same age may be only 25 to 50 feet in diameter. With canes squeezed together it's impossible to walk thru a giant clumping grove. But these bamboos have their own special beauty. We've seen groves of giant clumping bamboo in Florida and California that were just amazing. When it comes to size, runners just can't compare. I've measured canes in Quail Botanical Gardens (near San Diego) that were almost 10 inches in diameter.The groves were very clean with few dead canes. I climbed up into the grove and wedged myself between these giant canes. It was quite an experience. When you stand back and look at the grove it has the look of a single giant plant (which it is). It can be an awe inspiring sight, some growing over a 100 feet tall. We saw another grove of "Black" bamboo at Quail that had canes averaging 4 to 5 inches in diameter. These canes were so close together that you could not slide your hand into the grove. In a perfect world I'd be able to grow runners and clumpers. I've yet to see a bamboo I didn't like! Of course I feel that way about most any plant.

Bamboo Flowering

Bamboo flowers very infrequently, making seed somewhat rare. When it does flower, all plantings of the same clone do so at the same time, no matter where they are located (In general). Intervals between flowerings vary widely and may be as great as 80 years or more. The grove may die after flowering or be set back severly. The grove may slowly recover or re-establish from seed. When bamboo does flower it presents us with the oportunity to start new clones of a species. I currently have a grove of P.angusta in full flower. This grove is about 10 years old but has been slow to mature. It gets very little sun and this spring I noticed it looked kind of sad, partially defoliated. I took a close look and found the entire grove flowering heavily. I hope to collect some seed. Considering how bad the grove currently looks I don't hold out much hope that this bamboo will make it. I've got pictures on my Update and Bamboo ID pages.

In the 15 years I've been growing bamboo I've only had two other species flower. The first was a variegated P.aurea. It was only a couple years old and died right after flowering. The second was Arrow Bamboo (P.japonica). This species is fairly common around Birmingham and most locations flowered and died. I cut my grove to the ground a couple of times. It came back looking good each time but kept going back into the flowering stage.There was another clone that did not flower so there are still some nice groves around.