Phyllostachys bambusoides Siebold & Zucc.
by W.R. Sykes
Dense thicket-forming with rhizomes running extensively. Culm 10-12 m, green, later yellow, curving over slightly towards apex; nodes with one prominent ridge, otherwise inconspicuous, none congested. Culm-sheath glabrous, light brownish yellow or greenish brown, mottled dark brownish; auricles present, at least when young; oral bristles deciduous; sheath-blade ± linear. Branches dense, primary branches at c. 45 . Leaf-sheath with conspicuous auricles and long oral bristles. Leaf-blade 8-14-(20) × 1-2.7-(4.5) cm, lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, abaxially glaucescent. Inflorescence to 30 cm, narrowly paniculate. Spikelets subtended by sheath-like bracts with leafy blades. Glumes 2.3-2.7 cm, including apical bristle, ± purple, glabrous or nearly so. Lemma and palea 1.5-2 cm, minutely puberulent, ± tinged purple, aristate. Lodicules c. 2 mm, ± obliquely lanceolate. Stamens long exserted; anthers c. 1 cm. Style and stigmas purple.
N.: Wanganui (east bank of Wanganui River, at base of St John's Hill where it has spread into a plantation forming a large stand).
Naturalised from south and central China.
Phyllostachys bambusoides has been widely planted in North Id and most probably has spread to a minor extent elsewhere. It is not as common in cultivation as P. aurea and P. nigra.
Phyllostachys bambusoides is the tallest sp. in the genus and is much taller in Asia than in N.Z. In N.Z. it is rarely as aggressive as the other two spp. treated here. The description of spikelets was compiled from cultivated specimens including fresh material from the latest flowering phase in 1995.
