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.