Arundainaria g. variant?

[foxd]

Thinking about it, it can't be appalachiana because it keeps its leaves in the winter. Probably gigantea then.

[bambooweb]

I talked to Betty Shor (CoEditor of Bamboo) and she said:

An article by Triplett about the new Arundinaria is in
the Oct. issue, which is now at the printer. A long article about
the Bamboo Phylogeny Group will be in the Dec. issue.

Bill

[ChrisM]

I will be interested in seeing the deciduous nature of this species. My plants are only 2+ months replanted so I am babying them while they are still putting out new foliage and fresh footings.
Chris

[needmore]

I will be interested in seeing the deciduous nature of this species. My plants are only 2+ months replanted so I am babying them while they are still putting out new foliage and fresh footings.
Chris

I've seen this form cultivated in TN and it looks quite dead - top killed, but leafs back out in the spring.

[ChrisM]

How long do the culm sheaths stay on gigantea? and are they hairy? I found some Arundinaria in Clay Co.,AL at an elev. of 1100' following a creek bed and stopping as the creek bed began quickly elevating and turning to boulder and solid rock base. At least half still had hairy culm sheaths and were growing in very wet/soaked substrate. I am not clear as to the presence of air chambers as I have not seen any first hand before, but I don't think they had any. The tallest cluster leafed out at about 10' with the largest culms being .5". I have some A.gigantea from a northern location that I received this year and only has one culm and it doesn't have any culm sheaths and has a green culm. The stuff I came across has green culm that still have sheaths, but are grayish without sheaths. Seems to large for tecta and the elevation is apparently too high as well. I will try to post pics soon.
Your thought guys....
Chris

[mito0]

my gigantea division is only two years old, but all culm sheaths are still intact except for a couple i peeled off myself. i don't think mine are very hairy, though. i'll take a look tonight when i get off work.
*edit: okay, i just checked the culm sheaths on my a.g... actually, most of them from last year are pretty small now. they're still there, but have weathered down to almost nothing. they don't come off when i pull on them - they're very firmly secured to the culm. they're definately NOT hairy, though - totally smooth.
i'd be willing to bet that there are literally dozens of different varieties of gigantea, and i wouldn't be surprised if there's a new species or two still waiting to be classified. i really wish someone would come up with a centralized growing site for all the different types that have been found so far so it would be easier to compare/contrast them all side by side.
i don't know why, but i'm absolutely fascinated with our native boo. i've actually considered getting rid of most of my other boo so i can start a collection of nothing but native varieties. i may as well - i haven't found any that grow as well here as gigantea. i have to baby most of my other plants, but a.g. is an absolute WEED. it's so much happier than all my other boo, it's not even close.

[ChrisM]

Here are pics of the Arundinaria found in the Talladega Mts.,Clay Co.,AL elevation 1100'.

[ChrisM]

I went looking for some tecta locally near a swamp today to use as a comparison to the pics posted that I had found in the mountains. To my surprise what I collected and photographed was very similar to what I found in the mountains. Fuzzy culm sheaths that persisted on many, with the tallest being about 15' although most was 4-7', but only .5" thick culms. It was growing on dry ground and was very prevalent. I don't see anything that looks like air chambers to me, but still not sure what to expect. Could I be finding tecta that is larger than recorded and higher than recorded or gigantea that is holding onto sheaths and not producing thick culms?
Chris

[Mike,Marietta,SC,z8a]

Here are pics of Arundinaria appalachiana



And one of A. gigantea for comparison

I know of two locations where both species are growing side by side while maintaining their distinct forms. A. appalachiana is by far the more horticulturally attractive species.

[Mike,Marietta,SC,z8a]

Lets try that deciduous winder mode pic again:

[ChrisM]

Mike does the gigantea by you hold the culm sheaths like the pics I posted and are they fuzzy?
Chris

[mito0]

well, while we're comparing arundinarias, here's a few pics of one i got from richmond, kentucky. i got it in the spring of 2005 as a 6" chunk of bare rhizome with no culms. its first spring, it sent up 1 lonely shoot. this year, it sent up about a dozen new shoots and filled up its whiskey barrel container. some of its new leaves are pretty impressive in size. as you can (sort of) see in the photos, the culm sheaths are totally smooth.





as this last photo shows, the culm sheaths are persistant, but look pretty small by the 2nd year.
some of you sharp-eyed folks might catch a glimpse of the bletilla orchids sharing the planter. they haven't bloomed yet (i've only had them 2 years) but they seem to like hanging out in the shade of the boo.
these photos were taken today. yes, those are new shoots in october.

[mito0]

here's my question about this particular bamboo: how can you tell the difference between a. gigantea and p. japonica? they're very similar in many ways and photos i've seen of both of them seem to resemble my boo, although neither of them are exact. i have a couple of plants that i know are japonica, and they're a little different from this one in several ways. their shoots are solid green, not tinged with red like this one. they only produce one branch per node, not several like this one. but, i've seen/read too many descriptions of a. gigantea that mention hairs on the leaves and culm sheaths, which this one doesn't have at all. i know a. gigantea's closest genetic relative is p. japonica (at least i think i read that recently), but there must be tell-tale ways to tell them apart. the young growth you see here looks very much like japonica, but last year's growth looks just like gigantea.


the reason i bring this up is, i don't have a particularly sterling provenance for this plant. i got it on ebay from some dude in kentucky who said it was a. gigantea. however, i've seen a. gigantea sold on ebay that was actually arundo donax, so i take the i.d. with a grain of salt. i've contacted the seller to ask more about the parent plant, but i haven't heard back yet. could this be p. japonica? it seems pretty different from my 2 other japonicas, but it also seems to lack a couple of the traits of a. gigantea.

any help?

[Jeff: Igor's Apprentice]

Mito, in that first picture, the culm on the far right seems to have leaves with consistent variegation- thick bands of a lighter green.
Yes? Or optical illusion?

[mito0]

Mito, in that first picture, the culm on the far right seems to have leaves with consistent variegation- thick bands of a lighter green.
Yes? Or optical illusion?

yes, theres'a little variegation, but it's only visable in bright sunlight. on a cloudy day, it pretty much looks like a solid green leaf.