''Bambusa textilis'', also known as slender bamboo, clumping bamboo and weaver's bamboo, is a species of

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, ...

in the Poaceae (grasses) family that is native to China. The subspecies ''var. gracilis'' is heavily cultivated in Australia.

Description

Slender bamboo is a giant, densely leaved, upright bamboo, that grows in a tight clump up to 6 to 10 meters high and 2 meters in width at a fast rate and has a stem size of 3cm. Having elegant leaves that are

lanceolate The following is a list of terms which are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (a single leaf blade or lamina) or compound (with several leaflets). The edge of the leaf may be regula ...

shaped, 9-25 x 1-2.5 cm long, and greenish blue-hued culm that is glossy and leathery, its long green internodes, 35-60 cm, change to yellow during prolonged sunlight exposure. Despite being an

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, which ...

, some leaf loss can be expected in winter, but this depends on the location and

microclimate A microclimate (or micro-climate) is a local set of atmospheric conditions that differ from those in the surrounding areas, often with a slight difference but sometimes with a substantial one. The term may refer to areas as small as a few squa ...

. The stalk and the rhizome are one, making it a non-invasive plant. The top part of the short rhizome has buds, one of which grows into another very truncated rhizome that then turns upward to surface from the ground as a subsidiary culm close to the parent.

Distribution

In its native

southern China South China () is a geographical and cultural region that covers the southernmost part of China. Its precise meaning varies with context. A notable feature of South China in comparison to the rest of China is that most of its citizens are not ...

, it usually found near rivers, on hills and villages at low altitudes in the

Anhui Anhui , (; formerly romanized as Anhwei) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the East China region. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze River ...

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020 ...

Fujian Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its c ...

and Guangxi provinces. It has been naturalized in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

, Colombia and

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

Cultivation

It is cultivated in particular to constitute

hedge A hedge or hedgerow is a line of closely spaced shrubs and sometimes trees, planted and trained to form a barrier or to mark the boundary of an area, such as between neighbouring properties. Hedges that are used to separate a road from adjoin ...

s or privacy screens in suburban yards and can be planted in subtropical/tropical gardens where it can complement the native rainforest flora, and as well as in

garden bed Raised-bed gardening is a form of gardening in which the soil is raised above ground level and usually enclosed in some way. Raised bed structures can be made of wood, rock, concrete or other materials, and can be of any size or shape. The soil is ...

s near a fence. It can also provide both noise and

wind break A windbreak (shelterbelt) is a planting usually made up of one or more rows of trees or shrubs planted in such a manner as to provide shelter from the wind and to protect soil from erosion. They are commonly planted in hedgerows around the edge ...

, in addition to tolerating winds and temperatures as low as -10°C. Growing best in full sun to part shade, it may benefit from some

mulch A mulch is a layer of material applied to the surface of soil. Reasons for applying mulch include conservation of soil moisture, improving fertility and health of the soil, reducing weed growth and enhancing the visual appeal of the area. A ...

and

nitrogen Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at seve ...

fertiliser. The variety ''var. gracilis'' is one of the most popular bamboos, especially in Australia, which is known as ''Gracilis bamboo'', that forms a sightly slender clump and grows no more than 8 metres high. It reaches maturity within 3-5 years, depending on the weather and soil. A ''gracilis'' in a 200mm container would usually grow to around 3 to 4 meters in 12 months. The ''glabra'' variety features more white on the lower areas of the internodes, giving the plant a striped appearance, and the ''fusca'' variety is larger, growing up to 12 meters and would top a 3 storey building.FUSCA THREE STOREY SCREENING BAMBOO
Bamboo Down Under

Varieties

*''B. textilis var. fusca'' *''B. textilis var. glabra'' *''B. textilis var. gracilis'' *''B. textilis var. maculata'' *''B. textilis var. textilis''

References

Sources

* * * * * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q6666255 textilis Garden plants Endemic flora of China Plants described in 1940 Ornamental trees