Phyllostachys aurea
Common name
walking stick bamboo
Family
Poaceae
Flora category
Vascular – Exotic
Structural class
Grasses
Conservation status
Not applicable
Habitat
Terrestrial.
Features
Fairly dense thicket-forming bamboo with rhizomes running extensively. The culm (stem) usually 3-6 m is green during the first year, yellow afterwards. The 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 x 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. edulis (Carriere) Houz. ”Heterocycla” 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. edulis but glabrous in P. aurea.
Flowering
Flowering not reported in NZ (Edgar and Connor 2002).
Year naturalised
1977
Origin
South-eastern China
Etymology
aurea: Golden yellow
Reason For Introduction
Ornamental
Life Cycle Comments
Perennial
Reproduction
Long spreading rhizomes; no seeds (Cameron 1996).