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Bambusa oldhamii
Also called Giant Timber Bamboo
Oldham's bamboo is a large, clump-forming bamboo, usually grown as a tall ornamental or screening plant rather than as a houseplant. It grows fast in warm, humid conditions and tolerates brief frosts once established.
Bambusa oldhamii, known as giant timber bamboo or Oldham's bamboo, is a large species of bamboo. It is the most common and widely grown bamboo in the United States and has been introduced into cultivation around the world. It is densely foliated, growing up to 20 metres (65 feet) tall in good conditions, and can have a diameter of up to 10 centimetres (4 inches).
It has been introduced into cultivation around the world; it is grown under glass in Germany, and in Australia, Puerto Rico, Florida, Texas, Tennessee, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Arizona, Nevada, Hawaii, Louisiana, and California, where it is the most common clumping bamboo grown. The maximum height in cultivation varies with the temperature. It tolerates temperatures down to −7 °C (19 °F).
In Taiwan and China, the young shoots of B. oldhamii are highly sought after due to their crisp texture and sweet taste. Cultivation in Taiwan has declined with many stands of bamboo converted to pineapple production, a number of subsidy and support programs have been established as the cultivated bamboo groves provide valuable wildlife habitat and their destruction challenges the endangered farmland green tree frog.
B. oldhamii is native to the island of Taiwan and to southern China (Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Zhejiang). It is widely cultivated and has become naturalized in several places (Ryukyu Islands, New Zealand, Chiapas, Honduras, Peru, etc.)
Top End Bamboo · Cape Bamboo · Thorny Bamboo · Timor Black Bamboo · Bamboo · Hedge bamboo · Textile bamboo · Bamboo · Common bamboo · Bamboo
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Bambusa oldhamii by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
