GUADUA ANGUSTIFOLIA

40' height, Sun, 30 degrees F Minimum, Clumper.

 

        The largest & one of the most important American Bamboos, see the Columbian Coffee Grower's info in our book section for more info.  Native to Colombia & Peru. Used for construction & furniture.  Takes nails without splitting, according to Jim Wertz. 

        Has not survived for us, but we have always lived in a dry climate in California.  Perhaps it will survive in more humid parts of Southern California, but somehow I doubt it will ever be of any value for landscaping in Southern California. 

        A gallon pot was offered for sale for $70 at the September '92 SOCAL plant sale & there were 3 collectors who wanted to buy it.  A 5" pot 1' tall sold for $40 at the '95 SOCAL fall sale.  A 10 gallon pot sold at the April 2001 SOCAL auction for $210.

 

GUADUA ANGUSTIFOLIA VARIEGATA

 

Full Sun, 32 degrees F Minimum, Clumper.

 

        Discovered by Ximena Londono in Columbia.  Ximena is a botanist who worked with Dr. Soderstrom at the Smithsonian for perhaps a year before his death.  She & Gerald Bol collected the plant in 1985.  Gerald brought it back to California but it did not survive.  Mature plants said to be more dramatic than vulgaris vittata, although the small plants that we have seen do not show it.  Jean Harrington had a 6' tall 1 year-old plant in St Pete Fl that was killed to the ground by one night of 27 degrees in 1955.  However, it then grew new leaves & canes from the base.  I often think about the fact that I once asked Ximena how much it would cost for her to take me on a collecting trip to Columbia and she answered - "$5,000 - and your life."

 

        The ABS So Cal reference collection used to contain a plant. One 5 gallon pot was sold at the fall 1991 SOCAL sale for $300.  Don McKechnie also offered 2 3' high 5 gallon pots for $350 each, but they were not bought.  At the N.W.A.B.S. sale in September 1991 a 3 culm 3' plant in a 5 gal pot sold for $60.  Brent Adrian bought a 15 gallon pot 4' tall at the spring 1995 SOCAL sale for $110.  A 5 gallon pot sold for $100 at the fall 2001 SOCAL sale auction.

 

GUADUA ANGUSTIFOLIA LESS THORNY

A 5 gallon pot sold for $110 at the fall 2001 SOCAL sale auction.