ARUNDINARIA AMABILIS

 

       

       

        30' height, Sun, 10 degrees F Minimum, Runner.  Tonkin Cane, Teastick Bamboo, Ch'a kon chuk.

        The Arundinaria species in general have round culms with rather inconspicuous nodes & a dried tan leaf-like wrapping at each node called a culm sheath. They are generally hardy & prefer growing in shade or semi-shade.

       

         Arundinaria amabilis is the source of valuable  wood for hand-made fishing poles, ski-poles,  bamboo trim, toys, cabinetwork, handcraft & furniture. The culms are straight, cylindrical, thick-walled, tough with nonprominent nodes. There is no fuzz on the leaves. Mature culms are branchless at the lower nodes. Grown in large quantities as an important timber crop in China for shipment all over the world.  Native to mountainous areas in Southern China.  Has not done well in Southern California or Florida.

 

        This plant broke my leg.  It was the day after the first International Bamboo Conference in Puerto Rico, July 1, 1985.  Dr. McClure had planted a clump of amabilis at a test site in the middle of the National Forest in mountainous jungle terrain at Toro Negro in 1940 & it hadn't been seen since.  The USDA people did not want us hiking through the jungle to an unknown destination without a map & only a few guides, but our enthusiasm prevailed & after 3 1/2 hours of strenuous work, we found it - a clump 300' in diameter with 2 1/2", 50' high culms far enough apart to easily walk between. We took photos, dug some small clumps & started back.  A local retired non-bamboo society hiker inexplicably left the group to follow his own trail & I inexplicably went after him to bring him back, slipped on a wet rock & broke my ankle. I couldn't move one step.  And because of the strange jungle acoustics nobody knew where I was, or even that I was in trouble.

        The Bamboo Society group thought I was going back with the lonely hiker & he thought I was going back to the main group.  I dug a hole in the stream bed & put my foot in the cold water to keep the swelling down.  2" long crabs in the water tickled my foot all night long. I dug a contour shape into the soil for comfort.  I was wearing shorts & T-shirt.  I made a suit out of plastic plant-collecting bags to protect me from the ferocious mosquitoes & cut a 6' long pole to fight off unwelcome visitors which I heard crawling nearby.  I was lost & alone all night. There was a full moon, a non-stop unbelievably loud beastly orchestral performance,  I was never afraid, but I did not sleep. Quite an unforgettable experience! Anyone tormented by the problems of modern urban life should occasionally spend a night in the jungle to put things into perspective.

        A 4-man "civil defense" team which had been alerted by the Bamboo Society at midnight found me around 10 in the morning & improvised a stretcher with bamboo poles & t-shirts. It took 6 hours to carry me out with 6 amabilis babies clutched to my stomach.

        The local newspaper reported "Dr. Stover, a celebrated chemist from Harvard fell into a 30' deep hole & was bitten all over by crabs."  Bruce McAlpin said, "A cheap stunt - what some people won't do for publicity." 

 

        David Andrews in Oxon Hill, Maryland reports most leaves of amabilis survive down to 7 degrees F.

        A 5 gallon pot was sold at the fall 1991 SCABS sale for $20. A puny gallon pot 2' tall sold for $10 at the spring 1995 auction.