bamboo id - dallas, texas

[johnny wobble]

can anybody help identify this bamboo? i am making a structure in my daughter's hermit crab habitat with some of it, so I need to make sure there is no toxicity. i cut it down locally growing in a backyard - dallas texas

[David]

Hello JW,

It is a phyllostachys bamboo, probably aurea, but whatever it is I know of no part of a phyllostachys bamboo to be toxic in any way. I eat the shoots every spring, and I'm still kicking so I think it will be fine. The leaves will soon drop off however so if you were looking for an interesting bamboo stick you will soon be in luck

Regards,

David

[johnny wobble]

thanks for the reply, david. i meant to include more info, but needed to post it at work where i had the pics. anyway, i picked up already cut stalks as well as cut some fresh ones, some around 1" across i think. there is a whole backyard of it that the people are trying to get rid of. i figured there was nothing toxic, but wanted to make sure since the hermies are gonna chew on it. and it's cool to know what it is exactly, i am going to study up on the variety and might dig up some to put in a pot.

other info i was going to include was that there is a groove running vertically from where it branches. and was gonna say i can take pics of the stalks i got, and that the bamboo was probably 20 feet tall. i think it was a little taller than the highest point of a single story house roof, so maybe not quite 20.

there's another house that has a yard full too. i might stop by and see if it's different. might just become a bamboo addict.

thanks

[Jerry Hamilton]

there's another house that has a yard full too. i might stop by and see if it's different. might just become a bamboo addict.

Sounds like that the bug has bitten

[ghmerrill]

aurea does it almost every time!

[Joseph Clemens]

That groove (which is immediately above the branch buds, so alternates from side to side) you describe is called a "sulcus" and is a characteristic of the genus Phyllostachys, as is having two branches at each node, one larger than the other.

[David]

JW,

Look for compressed nodes at the base of some/many of the culms ("stalks) and if present you can confirm aurea as the ID.
Better yet post pictures. Be sure to get closeups of the base of the culm, and the sulcus. If the sulcus is yellow it's likely aureosulcata.

David

[johnny wobble]

sounds like what i've got. some of the thicker ones have shorter segments at the bottom with no sulcus on the shorter segments. and i believe the sulcus was the same green as the rest. they're mostly dried out now, so it's hard to tell. thanks for the answers everybody. i'll post pics of the bamboo structure i'm building for the crabs and i'm scoping out more free bamboo in the area to get some smaller ones with roots. will post up pics if i get some planted, especially if it's a different variety.

edit: here's the basic structure of the crabby patio hangout.