Phyllostachys aurea
Environmental Weed (2024)
Common names
walking stick bamboo
Biostatus
Exotic
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Grasses
Detailed description
Fairly dense thicket-forming bamboo with rhizomes running extensively. Culm (stem) usually 3–6 m, green during the first year, yellow afterwards. Nodes on some shoots are congested and sometimes zigzag towards base, internodes swollen and often asymmetric. Branches spreading widely to give an open network. Leaf-blade usually 5–13 × 0.7–2 cm, lanceolate and pointed.
Similar taxa
There are other spp. of Phyllostachys in N.Z. with yellow stems but P. aurea is easily recognisable by the swollen and asymmetric internodes and zigzag nodes in the lower part of some culms in a clump. The cultivated P. heterocycla (Carrière) S.Matsum. also has lower internodes on some culms strongly swollen and grossly asymmetric, giving rise to zigzag nodes. However, the culm-sheaths are hairy abaxially in P. heterocycla but glabrous in P. aurea.
Habitat
Terrestrial.
Conservation status
Not applicable
Detailed taxonomy
Family
Poaceae
Ecology
Flowering
Flowering not reported in NZ (Edgar and Connor 2002).
Year naturalised
1977
Origin
South-eastern China
Reason for introduction
Ornamental
Life cycle
Perennial. Long spreading rhizomes; no seeds (Cameron 1996).
Other information
Etymology
aurea: Golden yellow
Environmental Weed (2024)
This plant is named in a list of 386 environmental weeds in New Zealand 2024 prepared by DOC. 759 candidate species were considered for inclusion on this new comprehensive list of environmental weeds in New Zealand. The species considered were drawn from published lists of weed species, lists of plants that must be reported or managed by law if observed, existing national and regional programmes and agreements for pest management, and species already managed by the Department of Conservation (DOC). Candidate species were then assessed to see if they were fully naturalised and whether they have more than minor impacts in natural ecosystems. Read the full report here.
NVS code
The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.
PHYAUR
Referencing and citations
References and further reading
Edgar E, Connor HE. 2000. Flora of New Zealand. Vol. V. Grasses. Manaaki Whenua Press, Christchurch, NZ. 650 p.