Pseudosasa japonica (Siebold & Zucc. ex Steud.) Makino ex Nakai

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Pseudosasa japonica' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/pseudosasa/pseudosasa-japonica/). Accessed 2025-04-19.

Family

  • Poaceae

Genus

Synonyms

  • Sasa japonica (Siebold & Zucc. ex Steud) Makino
  • Arundinaria japonica Siebold & Zucc. ex Steud

Glossary

glaucous
Grey-blue often from superficial layer of wax (bloom).
midrib
midveinCentral and principal vein in a leaf.
synonym
(syn.) (botanical) An alternative or former name for a taxon usually considered to be invalid (often given in brackets). Synonyms arise when a taxon has been described more than once (the prior name usually being the one accepted as correct) or if an article of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature has been contravened requiring the publishing of a new name. Developments in taxonomic thought may be reflected in an increasing list of synonyms as generic or specific concepts change over time.

References

There are no active references in this article.

Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Pseudosasa japonica' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/pseudosasa/pseudosasa-japonica/). Accessed 2025-04-19.

Editorial Note

Bean treated this species as Arundinaria japonica. On the nomenclature of the genera included in the former Arundinaria, see the entry for that genus.

Taxonomic note Bean gives the additional synonym Bambusa metake Siebold; however, Bambusa metake André = Pleioblastus simonii (Carrière) Nakai.

Stems 10 to 12 ft high (5 or 6 ft more in the milder counties), round, very hollow, erect, 16 to 23 in. diameter, with erect branches near the top, producing only a few leaves the first year. Stem-sheaths nearly as long or longer than the space between the joints, which is sometimes 8 in., very persistent, soon turning pale brown, covered at first with flattened bristles; terminated when young by an awl-shaped tongue up to 3 in. long, but only 18 in. wide. Leaves 7 to 12 in. long, 34 to 2 in. wide, terminated by a long tail-like point; the upper surface glossy dark green, rather glaucous beneath, except a strip about one-fourth of its width near one margin, which is green. There are five to nine secondary veins each side the midrib, minutely tessellated with cross-veinlets; one margin is minutely, the other scarcely toothed.

Native of Japan; introduced by Von Siebold in 1850, and for long the only bamboo commonly grown in British gardens. It is a very hardy and accommodating species, and a handsome evergreen, having larger leaves than any other bamboo of its height and character that we can grow outside. It does not spread quickly by underground suckers, but maintains a rather tufted habit. It flowered in Europe between 1872 and 1874, and has been in flower in many parts of the British Isles since about 1950. While all stems have flowered on some plants, leading to their death, most plants have bloomed only on a few stems and continue to produce vigorous new vegetative shoots.