Phyllostachys bambusoides.
Family Poaceae > Subfamily Bambusoideae > Tribe Bambuseae.
The Plant List has 60 synonyms covering species, forms and varieties.
Giant timber bamboo is native to China and is naturalised in some areas of S.E. Queensland where
it is classified as an environmental weed.
There are a number of cultivars with different coloured culms and striped leaves that are commonly
grown in some areas of the world.
They are woody bamboos with culms that are mostly erect but may lean towards the brightest light.
Mature culms are up to 20 or 30 m high and 20 cm in diameter.
They are not sinuous or angled (some cultivars are).
The nodes are only slightly to moderately flared.
The supranodal ridge is usually marked and the sheath scars are narrow.
There are no hairs on the mid culm nodes.
The green to yellow internodes are smooth and shiny.
They have the characteristic groove above the alternately arranged leaf buds.
The deciduous culm sheaths are 15 to 25 cm long.
The upper margin is flattish and hairs may be present or absent.
The upper sheaths have ovate or sickle-shaped auricles with long setae (bristles).
Sheaths on the lower part of the culms only have setae.
The upper margin of the ligule is slightly convex and has hairs on the margin.
The narrow blade is curved or bent backwards.
There are 2 side branches at the nodes with very occasionally a small one in between.
Each branchlet has from 2 up to around 9 leaves on short hairy pseudopetioles.
The flat lanceolate to oblong blades are up to 20 cm long and 1 to 3 cm wide.
The midrib is prominent and there are hairs on the lower surface.
There is cross venation and the margins are rough with short spines.
The leaf sheaths have hairs on the edges.
There are sickle-shaped auricles with setae and a prominent ligule with a flat top.
Phyllostachys aurea is very similar but has thinner culms (2 to 3 cm across), and it
has no auricles except on rare occasions and then they only have a few setae.
The culm sheath ligules have a flat or slightly convex upper margin and the hairs are longer than
the membrane itself which is only 1 to 2 mm high.
Phyllostachys bambusoides var. aurea has no auricles on the culm sheaths.
The leaf sheaths may be similar to the parent species with an auricle and setae or both may be absent.
The ligules are short.
J.F.
