Species
Pseudosasa japonica
Etymology
japonica: of Japan
Common Name(s)
arrow bamboo
Authority
Pseudosasa japonica (Steud.) Makino
Family
Poaceae
Flora Category
Vascular - Exotic
PSEJAP
The
National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.
Structural Class
Grasses
Habitat
Terrestrial. Roadsides, riverbanks, in or around plantations, especially near garden boundaries, in scrub and on forest margins, abandoned garden sites and waste places (Edgar and Connor 2000).
Features
Medium sized bamboo up to about 5 m, forming dense thickets with extensive rhizomes. Culm dark green, banded white just below nodes. Branches one per node, sometimes 2-3 at upper nodes, leaf sheath glabrous, often purplish above. Leaf blade 3.5 by 25 cm long, one on each branch. This species has flowered frequently in NZ, the inflorescence is purplish on the exposed side, spikelets 4-9 cm, flattened.
Similar Taxa
P. japonica is the bamboo species most commonly known to flower in NZ. Distinctive vegetative characters include round, not notched, stem, the white band below the node and single branches on lower nodes, with 2-3 on upper nodes.
Flowering
Flowered throughout 80''s not since.
Year Naturalised
1968
Origin
Japan, S. Korea
Reason For Introduction
Ornamental
Life Cycle Comments
Perennial. Can flower continuously for several years. The thickets do not die completely after flowering although large parts often do (Edgar and Connor 2000)
Reproduction
Spread is vegetative or by planting. No regeneration from seed so far has been reported (Edgar and Connor 2000)
Seed
Viable seed is uncommon (Edgar and Connor 2000)
This page last updated on 27 May 2010