It is Arundinaria tecta...or is it?

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WUVIE
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It is Arundinaria tecta...or is it?

Post by WUVIE »

*Updated with a few more images, smaller.

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums ... id=9086050

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums ... id=9086053

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums ... id=9086054

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums ... id=9086058


After researching online and digging through fifty pounds
of library books, I felt confident that what we were growing
near our roadside is Arundinaria tecta. Now I'm not so certain.

With the shooting of our Phyllostachys Stimulosa, I noticed
they both have whip-like canes and seemingly striped colors of
green and what I'm leaning towards calling purple. Just an
observation.

We've been growing it (tecta?) for seven years, but only this
year has it really taken off, shooting several feet from the initial planting.

Could anyone assist? I have many pictures, but don't want to
overload the forum if unnecessary, so I hope it is alright that
I've provided some links instead. My image editing software has
died, and I'm using one that is unfamiliar to me in resizing.

Here goes the first image:

http://wuvie.net/tecta13.jpg

The branching habit of a young shoot:

http://wuvie.net/tecta18.jpg

Greener shot of the branching habit:

http://wuvie.net/tecta111.jpg

Heading for a bridal shower, but will return later.
Many thanks! :D
Last edited by WUVIE on Tue Apr 17, 2012 3:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: It is Arundinaria tecta...or is it?

Post by moriphen »

That is a Phyllostachys of a unknown species type, this is what Arundinaria tecta looks like:

Image
M
WUVIE
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Re: It is Arundinaria tecta...or is it?

Post by WUVIE »

Many thanks, Moriphen. :D

Ah, so a no-go on the tecta.

The area where we dug this bamboo seven years ago is a
river bottom in Northeastern Oklahoma. The bamboo has
apparently been growing for a number of years, as it stretches
a great distance of the country road.
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Re: It is Arundinaria tecta...or is it?

Post by stevelau1911 »

It looks just like you have the bamboo that I've always known as phyllostachys bissetii, especially with the purplish sheaths, and how the older culms turn into a glossy olive/yellow tone. It could be dwarf bissetii, but in any case, this species doesn't get much more than 3/4 inch culms by 10ft.

Here are my pictures to show you the comparison.
Image
Image
Image
Image

I ended up putting this one on craigslist because it had the capability of running 7ft in a season with lots of skinny rhizomes which is pretty crazy for my climate. It also put out way too many culms, and the best size was about 2/3 inch this year's new shoots. I prefer growing ornamental bamboos which grow in steadily expanding clumps, and putting on a lot of size each year, not a short screening type to fill in an area with little culms. It might not even be bissetii, but the shoots match the identity.

It also looks like you have a black locust grove around the bamboo in your 2nd picture. I would suggest keeping an eye on the black locust because this tree has the same capabilities of bamboo in which they produce shoots from their roots/rhizomes or whatever you want to call them, but 10X stronger since it doesn't have the same limitations of bamboo, and I believe it will choke out your bamboo over time since these trees have a height potential of about 80ft. I have a black locust tree which has been attacking my flower beds in the last couple years, and my neighbor complained about it invading her evergreen shrubs with the little hydra like shoots coming up all over her yard, so I already girdled it and will be cutting it down.
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Re: It is Arundinaria tecta...or is it?

Post by WUVIE »

Steve,

Fabulous, thank you! Your pictures look very similar to mine.
I looked up a few more pictures of mature groves, and they
seemed a bit taller and bushier, but perhaps ours is just young
and not yet bushed out?

Yes, the trees are in an area that we haven't tended for some
time, so the Mimosa seedlings are everywhere. We cut the tree
down when we noticed there were Mimosas up and down both sides
of the road only once you reach our house. :oops:

I really appreciate your help. This identification has been bugging us
for some time.

Many thanks!
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Re: It is Arundinaria tecta...or is it?

Post by stevelau1911 »

I believe that we may have the dwarf form of bissetii. Also if you have mimosa and not black locust, it shouldn't be that scary since it cannot turn into a giant, but it may also be a legume and a related plant which can trap it's own nitrogen and seem to have an endless reservoir of energy even after the root connection is severed.
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Re: It is Arundinaria tecta...or is it?

Post by needmore »

I haven't looked at your photos yet due to dial-up internet and big files but the dwarf bissetii gets larger than Steve said so disregard that aspect of the ID.
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Re: It is Arundinaria tecta...or is it?

Post by Tarzanus »

Steve, are you certain this is bisetii?

Sadly I have no pictures of my (not necessarily) aurea's fesh shoots / branches that were exposed to full sun. They received dark tan just like that on your photo. I only have one photo with only minimal amount of tan visible above the node where the aphid runs for it's life.
Image

It did seem very similar to bamboo on your pictures and perhaps only slightly less purple than on pictures in first post.

I'll make some more photos this year.

BTW: Dark, brown color didn't last long. Sun exposed culms turned paler green or almost yellow in a few weeks.
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Re: It is Arundinaria tecta...or is it?

Post by stevelau1911 »

The shoots look exactly like bissetii, but and it has a lot of the same features of bissetii such as long internodes, fast spread, lots of culms, but it is unusually small for bissetii. It could be a smaller clone of bissetii or the species might just be an underperformer here. I got it from a dig so I can't be for sure what it is, but this definitely doesn't look like it has the potential to get up much more than 10ft based on it's performance so far.
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Re: It is Arundinaria tecta...or is it?

Post by WUVIE »

“People of uncommon abilities generally fall into eccentricities when their sphere of life is not adequate to their abilities.”
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Re: It is Arundinaria tecta...or is it?

Post by WUVIE »

An update. I just came back from the 'grove' of this unknown bamboo, and
in checking out the newest shoots, noticed they have a sort of rough sandpaper
feel about them.

Boy, this lack of i.d. is driving me nuts. :?
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Re: It is Arundinaria tecta...or is it?

Post by WUVIE »

ba5.jpg
Update: April 10, 2015. This year's shoots look a little different.
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Re: It is Arundinaria tecta...or is it?

Post by T9D »

Sure looks a heck of a lot like my Decora. The variegation, the purple, the culms that turn yellow in the sun. The shoots on mine for some reason don't look like normal decora. They look like yours does. So perhaps that is why it's harder to ID. Never seen culms or branches purple though. But I'm thinking that perhaps whatever your bamboo is, it might just be looking different than normal ones. Sometimes bamboo takes on strange characteristics from the norm. My moms Aurea is coming up with brown spots on a couple culms, and one black culm. And always stays green, so who knows. Sometimes bamboo does weird things I guess.

Image
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Re: It is Arundinaria tecta...or is it?

Post by WUVIE »

I sure hate to drag this old thing back out, but. But.

Thanks to a few helpful people on ABS, we might be able to lean
towards Phyllostachys humilis! :D

Stay tuned!
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Re: It is Arundinaria tecta...or is it?

Post by needmore »

It is almost certainly a member of the aureosulcata clan based on the rough feel and that shoot photo. I have not looked at the culm photos so if they are solid green then it would be aureosulcata 'Alata', if they have yellow in the groove it would be...wait for it...yellow groove of aureosulcata proper.
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