Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Common name(s): [more details]

Chinese: qu gan zhu

English: drooping timber bamboo

Habit:  shrub

Description:  "Habit: Perennial. Rhizomes elongated; leptomorph. Culms erect; 400 cm long; woody. Culm-internodes semiterete; thin-walled. Lateral branches dendroid. Leaves cauline. Ligule an eciliate membrane. Leaf-blade base with a brief petiole-like connection to sheath. Leaf-blades lanceolate; 5-20 cm long; 6-18 mm wide. Leaf-blade apex acuminate. Inflorescence: Synflorescence bractiferous; fasciculate; dense; with spathaceous subtending bracts; bracts 12-15 mm long; without axillary buds at base of spikelet; with ultimate bract subtending a compact bracteolate fascicle of spikelets; prophyllate below lateral spikelets. Fertile spikelets sessile. Fertile Spikelets Spikelets comprising 2-4 fertile florets; with a barren rhachilla extension. Spikelets lanceolate; laterally compressed; 20 mm long; breaking up at maturity; disarticulating below each fertile floret. Glumes: Glumes one the lower absent or obscure; persistent; shorter than spikelet. Upper glume linear; 10 mm long; chartaceous; 1-keeled. Upper glume apex acute. Florets: Fertile lemma elliptic; 15 mm long; chartaceous; without keel. Lemma apex acuminate; awned; 1 -awned. Principal lemma awn 2 mm long overall. Palea 1 times length of lemma; chartaceous. Flower: Lodicules 3. Anthers 3. Stigmas 3. Fruit: Caryopsis with adherent pericarp" (GrassBase).

Habitat/ecology:  "Woodland, Sunny Edge, Dappled Shade, Shady Edge. The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland). It requires moist soil" (Plants For A Future).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  China (GRIN).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
New Caledonia New Caledonia Archipelago	Île Grande Terre	introduced invasive	Gargominy, Oliver/Bouchet, Philipe/Pascal, Michel/Jaffre, Tanguy/Tourneu, Jean-Christophe (1996) (p. 381) Localement envahissante dans le Sud de la Grande-Terre.
New Caledonia New Caledonia Archipelago	Île Grande Terre	introduced invasive cultivated	MacKee, H. S. (1994) (p. 61)

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
China China	China (People's Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)

Additional information:
Additional information at the Environment Bay of Plenty, New Zealand, web site of the Bay of Plenty Regional Council.
Information from the publication "Nonnative invasive plants of Southern forests: A field guide for identification and control".

Additional online information about Phyllostachys flexuosa is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Information about Phyllostachys flexuosa as a weed (worldwide references) may be available from the Global Compendium of Weeds (GCW).

Taxonomic information about Phyllostachys flexuosa may be available from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).

References:

Clayton, W. D./Harman, K. T./Williamson, H. 2002. World Grass Species: Descriptions, Identification, and Information Retrieval (online resource).

Gargominy, Oliver/Bouchet, Philipe/Pascal, Michel/Jaffre, Tanguy/Tourneu, Jean-Christophe. 1996. Conséquences des introductions d'espèces animales et végétales sur la biodiversité en Nouvelle-Calédonie. Rev. Ecol. (Terre Vie) 51:375-401.

MacKee, H. S. 1994. Catalogue des plantes introduites et cultivées en Nouvelle-Calédonie. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, 164 p.

Miller, James H. 2003. Nonnative invasive plants of Southern forests: A field guide for identification and control. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station. Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS-62. 93 p.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2011. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. 2011. The PLANTS Database. National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.

Wang Dajun/Shen Shao-Jin. 1987. Bamboos of China. Timber Press, Portland, Oregon.

Zhengyi, Wu/Raven, Peter H./Deyuan, Hong. 2011. Flora of China (online resource).