Clumping bamboo needs to be ID'd...

[wannabRN]

Bought this bamboo last Sat, the only thing the vendor can tell me is that this is a clumping bamboo, this is the nursery I bought the Bambusa multiplex 'Riviereorum' from that you helped ID last year, I took a few pictures of it and hope you can help to ID it again :) this is my 2nd clumping bamboo and I have no idea what it is the only thing I can think of is a Bambusa bamboo because it has multiple branches on the nodes... Thanks in advance

Rog

[wannabRN]

Don't know what happened to the pictures... I waited for 15 minutes for them to upload them, but I will try again...

Ahhhh there they are...

[Mark Meckes]

Hi Rog,
Glad your pics came through and nice to see you have another challenging ID quest for 2007 :)

I don't think it is the regular species form of Bambusa multiplex, (which I'll be getting some better shoot shots soon as ours is about to emerge)

My first guess is Bambusa textilis (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showgallery.php?cat=576) (pics at Bamboo Flora)

Have a look at the frilly oral setae on the auricle (ear-like appendages) of this textilis sheath and let me know if it looks similar on yours:

http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/576/thumbs/BtexZBGAuTX040928-46.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=2632) View large (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=2632&size=big)

Mark

[Mark Meckes]

Juvenile plantings of some Bambusa species can be very difficult to ID, but I used a clue in one of your pics of the salmon color of a shoot tip as a possible indication that it might be B. textilis

http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/576/thumbs/BtexZAuTX040830-54.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=2630)

This coloration may or may not be due to environmental factors, ie, growing conditions of your potted bamboo, so if you can provide more pics as the shoots progress I can take a better look-see.

Mark

[voodoolord]

My guess is it's Bambusa multiplex. The main reason is it's identical to my plant and its a very common clumper sold, especially one sold by someone who only knows it as a clumper thus is not well informed on bamboo. I think Textilis is more of a specialty variety and would be marked as such wherever it went. I could be wrong but thats my 2 cents.
voodoo

[Mark Meckes]

I finally got around to taking more Bambusa multiplex (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showgallery.php?cat=584) pics
... and Bambusa textilis (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showgallery.php?cat=576) (our small plant) pics (links to the gallery categories).

Some traits between the 2 species are quite distinct, though of course these things change depending, for example on the shoots diameter or position of the culm sheath on the shoots etc.

Bambussa multiplex - Fresh new culm surface has a scant scattering of brown hairs, more may or may not show near the culm internode.
The sheath has few hairs, more scatterings of hairs on the sheath blade.
http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/584/thumbs/BmultAuTX070803-8387.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4483)

Bambusa textilis - Fresh new culm surfaces are lightly coated with white hairs.
This young sheath was hairy, though the hairs were not as visible on a larger well developed sheath pic taken several years ago.
Either that or my older camera did not show them as well as this:
http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/576/thumbs/BtexAuTX070721-9705.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4495)
In both cases these hairs are not long lasting.


Bambusa multiplex - Culm sheath auricle is less developed but can have long fringed hairs at the base of the sheath blade.
(will be checking on my rising shoots to verify that this is true throughout the culm)
http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/584/thumbs/BmultAuTX070803-8389.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4481)

Bambusa textilis - Culm sheath auricles are much more developed with fringed oral setae:
(Photo near top of small diameter 2cm shoot)
http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/576/thumbs/BtexAuTX070721-9719.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4492)


Bambusa multiplex - Branch leaf sheath oral setae (fringed hairs) attached to the auricles clasp tighter to the stem.
http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/584/thumbs/BmultAuTX070803-8413b.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4472)
Note scale bugs.

Bambusa textilis - Branch leaf sheath oral setae (fringed hairs) attached to the auricles are displayed more away from the stem, soon disintegrate.
http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/576/thumbs/BtexAuTX070803-8407.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4489)

As voodoo says there's a greater chance that what you have is Bambusa multiplex, but look forward hearing back from you, Rog, on what you think.

Mark

[wannabRN]

Thank you all for helping to ID the bamboo... after a few days of this thread, I planted this bamboo in ground, and it has been growing very nicely, and I am please to added this bamboo to my collection :cool:

This bamboo is shooting right now, and I took some more pictures today and hope you can tell better from them, I just can't get a good close up pic of the new shoot... still trying to learn how to take a good micro close up... but anyway, here are the pictures

Rog

[Mark Meckes]

Hi Rog,
Tis the season for summer shooting and it's good to see so much new growth from your plant.
I'm still leaning towards it being a Bambusa multiplex as it looks like the the fringed hairs on the branch leaf auricles are more pressed against the stem then sticking out away at a perpendicular angle .(?)
Keep on taking those pics and we can then delete the ones that are out of focus.

I think a big clue once the new shoots begin to elongate is if you can visually see a scattering of hairs on the fresh culm surface.
White fuzzy hairs = B. textilis
Few brown bristle like hairs pressed to the surface = B. multiplex

One thing you'll want to consider with your Bambusa clumpers, which I end up doing even down here in Central Texas is to selectively thin out small diameter/ later emerging shoots in order to give the remaining shoots the best chance to grow out and harden up before winter.
This also gives my clumpers a slightly more open appearance which makes it easier to maintain them over the years, as opposed to having a mass thicket of dead and competing culms to culmtend with if left unattended for a number of years.
Anyway I thought I would mention all this, and if you don't selectively thin, no problems, nature will do it for you. ;)

Though I haven't tried eating Bambusa multiplex shoots, I have heard that they are edible, though bitter if not picked very young.

Mark

[voodoolord]

I think you have a Bambusa multiplex Golden Godess on your hands, the shoots look exactly like my godess. the godess is one of the more common Bambusa's around and like I said the fact that it came from a nursery with clumper on it makes me think it is a common variety of Bambusa. I cant be 100% because were only looking at pictures but Im pretty certain.
voodoo