ese”) bamboo belongs to the genus Phyllostachys. Semi-arundinaria and a few other genera have occasionally been planted. The “native cane” (bamboo) is Arundinaria. Occasionally found along streams, the Arundinarias occurred at one time in abundance over much of the South in areas known as canebrakes.
Plants of bamboo vary in height from a few inches to a giant size of 70 feet. Plants usually have upright stems with prominent nodes. The internodes vary in length and are usually hollow but are solid in some varieties. In most cases branches occur only at the upper nodes, the remainder of the plant being a long, slender, strong cane, which is the portion of the plant most often used. The plants have a dense fibrous root system and produce rhizomes having buds at irregular intervals along the side.
The rhizomes are heavy, short jointed, often branching underground runners. They are essential for storage and translocation of nutrients. The buds give rise to new culms (canes or plants) or new rhizomes. Usually only a few of the buds along a rhizome begin growth (sprout) in the spring. Most buds remain dormant and may live for 5 or 6 years before they die. Germination of buds on the old (5 or 6 years) rhizomes is very poor. On first-year rhizomes, germination of buds is poor unless attached to the mother plant.
New rhizomes begin to develop about June and continue growth during mid-summer and early fall. The buds on rhizome-nodes swell slowly and continuously for several months. They emerge as new plants when the warm weather of spring arrives. The period of sprout emergence varies according to species, vigor of the mother bamboo, and environmental conditions. Even in one bamboo grove, there are variations of 50 to 60 days between early and late spring sprouting. Sprouting is also affected by moisture, decreasing in dry weather. Although it has been reported that buds sprout poorly following mild winters with few or no hard freezes, the winters at Auburn were always severe enough to induce normal sprouting.
It appears that the number of buds sprouting varies with the species of bamboo. In plantings at Camden, some species produced much better stands than others from the same number of rhizomes. Phyllostachys rubromarginata produced better stands than did P. bambusoides, P. viridis, or P. vivax.
The bud from which the new bamboo culm grows appears on the side of the rhizome as a small, hard swelling. As the warm weather of spring arrives, this bud begins to lengthen and expands into a compact upright growth until its point pierces the ground.
The new culm first makes its appearance above ground as a sharp point, and develops slowly upward for the next few days. An interesting feature of bamboo growth is that the entire length of the cane is compressed into the sprout when it first makes its appearance above ground, the elongation being from the bottom up; that is, the bottom joints or internodes elongate much more rapidly than those above, and cease growing only when they reach their ultimate length. There is no increase in girth of the bamboo culm after it appears above ground, but the culm elongates joint by joint until it reaches its maximum height. Elongation is slow for the first 2 or 3 feet, but the height growth from then on is exceedingly rapid to maturity. For example, timber bamboo growing from mature rhizomes completes its height, which may be as much as 55 feet, in 76 weeks, the average time in which all bamboo shoots reach maximum height. At this time the plant sends out branches from the nodes near the top. These produce leaves and the plant has completed its growth except for filling of the culm. The walls harden for about 2-3 years, when the bamboo culm is completely mature.
The plant sheds its leaves each summer by putting out a new crop from buds in the axil of the old leaves. Old leaves drop gradually, so the change from old to new leaves is hardly noticeable. The age of a bamboo culm can be determined by the number of leaf scars on a branch (twig). A year-old culm would have no leaf scars, a 2-year-old would 