plant of the day: black bamboo

botanically known as Phyllostachys nigra, this is black bamboo in winter
Photos taken at Brooklyn Botanic Garden early this morning before a great day catching up with old friends and meeting new people at Plant-O-Rama, the late January tradition amongst us urban horticulturists thanks to the Metro Hort Group.
Phyllostachys nigra:
-commonly called black bamboo
-Originally from China
-grows 20-50' high and wide and does best in full sun
-new culms (shoots) go from green to brown stippling to black
-hardy in USDA cold hardiness zones 7-10
-a running form of bamboo so if you are going to plant it, be sure to stay on top of controlling it over the years! ...and if you don't know that bamboo (the genus Phyllostachys) comes in both running and clump forms, you should know that. It will help you a great deal if you ever want to add bamboos to your garden scheme.

Thanks to Flora: a Gardener's Encyclopedia for factoid confirmation.

Bamboo

Bambusa vulgaris 'Vittata' photographed down at the American Orchid Society in Delray, FL, in January of 2008. Photo credit: aef08

Recently I was approached via my flickr account by an individual writing a piece on bamboo and the significance of their flowers in India. They liked the above photograph that I took in January and asked if I would add it to a slideshow attached to her article. I agreed, as have many other photographers, and the slideshow is pretty great looking. Always interested in the subject of ethnobotany, while knowing very little about the subject as it relates to India, I found Nahai's article to be very interesting and insightful. Therefore I thought I would add a link so you can check it out. The title alone might draw you in - A flower that bears seeds of doom? Oooh ah!