BAMBUSA VULGARIS

Robert Sapporito photos, Florida

50' height, Full Sun, 27 degrees F Minimum, Clumper.

Common Giant Tropical Timber Bamboo, Daisan Chiku, Wa-Net.

        Our plants in the ground were not bothered in any way by our 1987-88 winter low temperature of 30 degrees.  Richard Brinckmann tells us of a plant set in the ground in Gainesville, Florida in the early 1900's.  It was frozen & killed to the ground when exposed to their all-time low temperature of 9 degrees F. in 1985.  Today the plant is healthy, 4-5' in diameter & 45' tall!  Plants in Florida which experienced the 1989 one-night low of 23 degrees had 50% of their leaves burned brown but then grew them back.

        Vulgaris in latin means widely distributed & well known. This plant is the most widely grown tropical bamboo in the world. The culms are rather straight & strong although they may curve strongly at the base to get themselves into an upright position.  More irregular, arching & requires more space per plant than oldhamii. Seems also to be more vigorous than oldhamii, if such a thing is possible!  A vigorous, fast-growing plant with deep green 5" maximum diameter culms, root primordia at the nodes near the base of the culms.  The mature plant is said to form an open clump with culms spaced 1-2' apart, but our 5 year-old culms are all growing quite close together, more like 6" apart.

        Susceptible to damage by powder post beetles, which attack dried culms, eats out the insides & leaves a white powder & small holes.  Perhaps for that reason plus the fact that the wood is relatively soft it is not as good a candidate for handicrafts & construction.  But the fibers are long & therefore good for producing paper pulp.

        The most widely grown bamboo in Sri Lanka, where it & B.V. vittata are both widely used for construction.  Allen Bolt in Nicaragua says it is porous and absorbs preservatives well.  Paul But in Hong Kong says it is highly valued in Asia for construction & as a source of paper pulp plus the leaves, sap & interior powder are all used in various medicines.  In the Philippines the pulp is used for making paper & boxes but is not used commercially as much as B. bluemana.  Used for water piping in poor rural areas of Tanzania.  Not used for edible shoots because of its bitter taste.

        Has been so widely distributed for so long that its native habitat is unknown.  Scholars believe it came originally from either China or Madagascar.

        Wolfgang - "ach, many a time during the Oktoberfest I have myself wakened to the growing sounds at the clumping base of this so vunderbar a bamboo which it has smooth so bright the canes green und because of that I my hangover didn't so much mind. I say in letter to WW3, 'Bruder my heart is heavy with sadness for this plant, it not being grown enough in American places where it could growing be.' My bruder says he is not understanding of weissmenchen & their tastes."

        Hermine - "I understand Wolfie completely.  Just because it propagates easily, grows quickly & has no enemies there is no reason to insult it by calling it common or vulgar. Let's face it - it is NOT widely distributed nor well-known in the U.S. AND it is one of the best large all-green tropical clumping Bamboos!"