Flora of New Zealand Series

Small bamboo, sometimes forming a dense stand; rhizomes long and mostly forming a tangled network. Culm to 1 m, erect, usually green or pale green, sometimes purplish; nodes with one slender branch or occasionally with a second very small branch. Culm-sheaths glabrous. Leaf-sheath hairy at first and with raised longitudinal ribs, becoming ± glabrous and smooth. Leaf-blade usually 7-13 × 0.8-2.2 cm, lanceolate with aristate apex, initially uniformly green, later often becoming whitish to pale brown near margins above; abaxially ± pubescent.

S.: Christchurch, New Brighton, Beach Road. Old neglected garden on coastal sand, occupying many square metres.

Naturalised from Japan.

Little planted in N.Z., this small bamboo is notorious in Europe under the name Arundinaria vagans for its very invasive rhizome system, which often extends far beyond the original planted stock. Although flowering has not been reported for N.Z. it has been noted in Europe from 1981 onwards.

Also known in N.Z. as Arundinaria ramosa Makino and A. vagans Gamble s.