ID assistance for a bamboo newcomer? (Ans. P. aurea)

[Aidan Sonoda]

I recently purchased a home in the city which has a small bamboo planting in the back yard. The owners, who had occupied the house for a little over a year, were unable to tell me what variety of bamboo it is. I happily maintain a grove of Phyllostachys rubromarginata at my home in the country but would be very hesitant to attempt such a thing in the city, especially as this will be a rental property. I was hoping to identify the species/cultivar so I can have some idea of its potential height and aggressiveness. I have attached some photos of this years shoots and existing foliage.

http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/503/medium/DSCN0526.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4079&cat=500&ppuser=2382) View larger (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4079&size=big&cat=500)

http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/503/thumbs/DSCN0520.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4078&cat=500&ppuser=2382) http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/503/thumbs/DSCN0524.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4077&cat=500&ppuser=2382) http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/503/thumbs/DSCN0528.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4076&cat=500&ppuser=2382) http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/503/thumbs/DSCN0530.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4075&cat=500&ppuser=2382) http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/503/thumbs/DSCN0531.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4074&cat=500&ppuser=2382)

--This plant is growing in Saint Louis, Missouri
--I believe this bamboo is fairly young, the owners said that last years shoots were few and very close to the original clump. It is currently 5 and a half feet tall with canes a maximum of 1/4 diameter. This springs shoots are significantly taller and farther afield.
--The bamboo is a mix of green and yellow/gold canes
--The leaves are perhaps 3 inches long and solid green (not noticeably variegated)
--The canes are smooth to the touch, with one flat side. The flat edge is slightly grooved.
--This is a running bamboo, rhizomes are visible in places at the surface. It has spread some six feet laterally within the garden and sent up shoots even further out which have been destroyed by mowing.

Many thanks for your time,

A. Sonoda

[Mark Meckes]

Hi Aidon,
Nice pics! (They have been resized, uploaded to your gallery and cross-linked to your post)

The bamboo is Phyllostachys aurea (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showgallery.php?cat=503) - Golden Bamboo

This species is very adaptable to growing as a screen, hedge or as a grove but it's adventurous rhizomes may need to be curtailed, either in the form of a rhizome barrier or by annually severing wayward rhizomes.

Mark

[Aidan Sonoda]

Wonderful work with the pictures... my post is a hundred percent improved. If more forums were as thoughtfully run, the net would be a more pleasant place.

Thanks also for the ID and informative link. It seems the original owners chose poorly. I suspect there is some serious digging in my future. I doubt if the neighbors will appreciate a 15+ft high hedge of invasive plant inches from their yard. With luck I'll be able to relocate the majority of it to my own premises where a screen is more desirable. Aurea also seems to lack the necessary cold tolerance to be reliable in my area. A pity, since relocating it to my own yard would have been a strong option otherwise.

Thanks again,

A. Sonoda

[ShmuBamboo]

Yah, that is golden. Golden has a tendancy to have short nodes at the base. I have maybe 50 of these in pots and a huge planted section of it about 100 ft by 8 ft. Good bullet-proof bamboo, great for screening, landscaping and they have strong canes. I used the dead canes from these plants for staking my vineyard (1/3 acre of pinot noir).