Found this guy on my walk through the parklands in my neighborhood. It’s relatively small – about waist high and maybe covering about 5-10sqft – growing in a thicket of invasive wineberry, barberry, and other miscellaneous plants. Area is wooded parkland around a creek. As far as I could tell there was no more in the area, and no bamboo planted on the nearby properties.
iNaturalist suggested Golden Bamboo and River Cane. Might go back and getter better photos so I can send it in to the extension for an ID but curious what others’ thoughts are.
Based on my (admittedly extremely limited) understanding, I think you might actually have river cane there. River cane leaves are parallel to the stem vs most non-native bamboos which tend to be angled, and it has alternating leaves. Japanese arrow bamboo looks similar but is more fan-shaped leaf structure and pointier.
3 Comments
Found this guy on my walk through the parklands in my neighborhood. It’s relatively small – about waist high and maybe covering about 5-10sqft – growing in a thicket of invasive wineberry, barberry, and other miscellaneous plants. Area is wooded parkland around a creek. As far as I could tell there was no more in the area, and no bamboo planted on the nearby properties.
iNaturalist suggested Golden Bamboo and River Cane. Might go back and getter better photos so I can send it in to the extension for an ID but curious what others’ thoughts are.
fyi: [https://ebci.ces.ncsu.edu/2020/12/what-is-rivercane-and-why-is-it-important/](https://ebci.ces.ncsu.edu/2020/12/what-is-rivercane-and-why-is-it-important/)
Identification can be difficult, Maryland’s very own /u/alagrancosa wrote about it some a little while ago [here](https://old.reddit.com/r/NativePlantGardening/comments/1at2hr3/native_bamboo_more_common_than_you_might_think/).
Based on my (admittedly extremely limited) understanding, I think you might actually have river cane there. River cane leaves are parallel to the stem vs most non-native bamboos which tend to be angled, and it has alternating leaves. Japanese arrow bamboo looks similar but is more fan-shaped leaf structure and pointier.