Bambusa vulgaris
Common name: Golden bamboo
Bambusa vulgaris forms moderately loose clumps and has no thorns.[7] It has lemon-yellow culms (stems) with green stripes and dark green leaves.[8]Stems are not straight, not easy to split, inflexible, thick-walled, and initially strong.[9] The densely tufted culms grow 10–20 metres (30–70 ft) high and 4–10 centimetres (2–4 in) thick.[4][10] Culms are basally straight or flexuose (bent alternately in different directions), drooping at the tips. Culm walls are slightly thick.[11] Nodes are slightly inflated. Internodes are 20–45 centimetres (7.9–18 in). Several branches develop from mid-culm nodes and above. Culm leaves are deciduous with dense pubescence.[7] Leaf blades are narrowly lanceolate.[11]
Flowering is not common, and there are no seeds. Fruits are rare due to low pollen viability caused by irregular meiosis.[6] At the interval of several decades the whole population of an area bloom at once,[12] and individual stems bear a large number of flowers.[6] Vegetation propagates through clump division, by rhizome, stem and branch cutting, layering and marcotting.[10][13] The easiest and most practised cultivation method is culm or branch cutting. In the Philippines, the best results were obtained from one-node cuttings from the lower parts of six-month-old culms.[6] When a stem dies, the clump usually survives.[6] A clump can grow out of stem used for poles, fences, props, stakes or posts.[13] Its rhizomes extend up to 80 cm before turning upward to create open fast-spreading clumps.[14] The easy propagation of B. vulgaris explains its seemingly wild occurrence.
