Bambusa sp. 'Richard Waldron'

Specimen: BS-0451 [E1] (living plant), received from cultivated stock from the USA, June 2010.

Characteristics: Habit unicaespitose, dense. Rhizome pachymorph, short. Culms straight, erect, the top bending outwards from the weight of the foliage, height to 3.5 (4) m. Young shoots conical, green, glabrous; emerge from July to September. Culm-internodes terete, 20–30 (33) cm long, medium green to dark green, glabrous, smooth, almost glossy, initially proximally thinly farinose; diameter 0.5–0.8 cm, not easily splitting, moderately thick-walled, wall width 2 mm by a diameter of 0.8 cm on the lower culm ca. 0.9 m above the ground (→ table with culm size dimensions). Culm-nodes glabrous, smooth; nodal line and sheath scar horizontal, marginally protruding; supranodal line discernible, with a slight ridge, 5–8 mm above the nodal line, without a white ring below or above the sheath scar; aerial roots none. Branch-buds solitary, pentagonal, from the basal node up. Branches several, subequal, slender, the central one moderately dominant, ca. 30–70 cm long, upright, in an angle usually less than 45°; branching from mid-culm (occasionally from lower culm) up; branching intravaginal; rebranching. Culm-leaves deciduous. Culm-leaf sheaths narrow, ca. 2–2.5 cm wide both near the base and the apex, ca. 9–10 cm long, somewhat shorter than half the length of the internode, papery, light green when young, light straw-colored with scattered dark dots when dry, with appressed, dark brown, persistent hairs at the base only, otherwise glabrous; apex rounded, symmetrical, margins eciliate. Culm-leaf auricles large, unequal in shape and size, erect, ovate, adnate to and contiguous with the basal margins of the blade, extending along the sheath margins, glabrous, orange when young, straw-colored when dry, but a little darker than the sheath and the blade, with early deciduous, pale, slightly waved, basally somewhat thick bristles, ca. 3 mm long. Culm-leaf ligule ca. 1 mm high, straw-colored when dry, margin denticulate. Culm-leaf blades papery, usually persistent with the sheath, or late deciduous, usually erect, lanceolate, basally constricted to ca. 8 mm, ca. 5–7.5 cm long, a little shorter than the sheath length, glabrous, green when young, light straw-colored with scattered dark dots when dry; apex long attenuate or long acuminate, sharp-pointed; margins eciliate, distally incurved. Foliage-leaves 6–10 per branchlet. Foliage-leaf sheaths keeled, green with a purplish tint when young, light straw-colored when dry, glabrous; apex truncate; margins eciliate. Foliage-leaf auricles conspicuous, ovate, erect, orange when young, margin with several pale, slightly waved, long, basally somewhat thick bristles, ca. 3 mm long. Foliage-leaf ligule inconspicuous; outer ligule a low ridge or callus. Foliage-leaf blades soft, lanceolate, (11) 15–18 (21) × (0.8) 1.5–2.5 (3.5) cm, glabrous and smooth on both surfaces, medium to dark green above, bluish-green beneath; base asymmetrically wedge-shaped to attenuate; apex acuminate to attenuate; margins antrorsely scaberulous; midvein proximally distinct, slightly prominent beneath, yellowish green to light green on both surfaces; pseudopetiole 2–3 mm long. Flowers and seeds are unknown.

Uses: Culms suitable for making drinking straws. Plants suited for small gardens and pots.

Cultivation requirements: Easy and slow-growing; in full sun, partial or light shade; soil normal moisture-retentive; frost-tolerant to –3 °C.

Provisional identification: A species of Bambusa, similar to Bambusa boniopsis.