Bamboo Plant Species

North American

• North America holds three species of native bamboo; rivercane (Arundinaria gigantea), hill cane (A. appalachiana) and switch cane (A. tecta). The University of Tennessee Extension service indicates that native, North American bamboo can be identified by the fact that it possesses a flat section along the stalk. The plants are evergreens and lend themselves to the creation of an exotic, tropical environment widely-utilized by gardeners in a landscape setting. They also serve as effective privacy hedges.

Rivercane Bamboo

• Rivercane bamboo is widespread across the southeastern U.S. and grows in neutral to acidic soils. It requires moist earth with sufficient drainage -- it thrives in sandy soils -- and can tolerate large amounts of water but prefers not to stand in that water for an extended time. Large, expansive forests of rivercane were described by explorers to the southeast as early as the 1770s.

Golden Bamboo

• Golden bamboo (Phyllostachys aurea) is native to southeast China and was first introduced into the U.S. in the late 1800s, taking hold in Alabama and migrating from there as far as Oregon. This fast-growing, invasive species must be closely-contained or it will quickly colonize an area. It grows to a height of at least 30 feet, although it has been known to stretch as tall as 40 feet. The Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants at the University of Florida urges the public to avoid purchasing or planting golden bamboo.

Management

• Two basic types of bamboo exist: running and clumping. Running is the most problematic as it spreads quickly through underground stems called rhizomes -- these stems sometimes spread as far as 100 feet from the mother plant, making control of invasive bamboo extremely difficult. To battle the spread of bamboo, complete removal of the underground rhizome and its entire root system is necessary. Frequent mowing of the bamboo plant is also an effective management tool.