Phyllostachys aurea

Common Name: golden bamboo

Family: Poaceae

Common Synonyms: none

USDA Hardiness Zone: 6a-10b

Growth Habit: Bamboo

Origin: Southern China

FISC Category: 2

FDACS Listed Noxious Weed: No

Introduction Date: pre-1870

IFAS Assessment:

• North: CAUTION
• Central: OK
• South: CAUTION

Description

Perennial rhizomatous bamboo to 10 m tall with stiff erect stems to 6 cm in diameter, green turning yellowish to brown in maturity. Branches form at nodes, which have a swollen band beneath them. Lower stem crowded with nodes while the upper stem with widely spaced nodes up to 20 cm apart. Stems flattened or grooved on one side above each node. Stem leaf sheaths glabrous, deciduous, margins entire, with two tufts of hairs where sheath intersects the blade. Leaves 1-5 per twig, lanceolate, glabrous above, pubescent along lower midrib, 12 cm long and 2 cm wide. Spikelets sessile, at the ends of leaf branches, seldom flowering in Florida, but a mass flowering event takes place every 50 years or so.

Habitat

Hardwood forest, pine flatwoods, sinkholes, floodplains

Comments

The most widely cultivated species of bamboo in the US. Fast growing, forming monocultural stands. Similar to the native giant cane (Arundinaria gigantea), which lacks the flattened area above each node.

Control Methods

• Manual: NA
• Chemical: Cut Stem (cut plants and apply 5% Glyphosate, IFAS).
• Biological: NA

Control Notes

NA

References

Dave's Garden. 2014. PlantFiles: Golden bamboo, Phyllostachys aurea. http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/91940/. Accessed on June 20, 2014.

Langeland, K.A., H.M. Cherry, C.M. McCormick, K.C. Burks. 2008. Identification and Biology of Non-Native Plants in Florida's Natural Areas-Second Edition. IFAS Publication SP 257. University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.