Garden Design Online
03-16-07
New American Bamboo
For the first time in more than 200 years, American botanists have discovered a
new native American bamboo. Arundinaria appalachiana -- hill cane -- differs
from the two other native US bamboos, switch cane and river cane, because it
drops its leaves in the fall.
Iowa State University botanists Lynn Clark and Jimmy Triplett first heard
about hill cane from Alan Weakley, a botanist at the University of North Carolina.
Hill cane was known to residents of the Appalachian hills, but it was not
recognized as a different species.
Clark, Triplett and Weakley published their findings about the new bamboo last
year, and it was officially given its distinctive scientific name. Clark is an
internationally recognized expert on bamboo, and hill cane is her 75th discovery
of a new bamboo species.
According to Clark, "Most people have no idea that we have native bamboo in
the U.S. But it has been a very important plant ecologically. And there's recent
interest in using it for re-vegetation projects because it's native and was used for
habitat by so many animals, especially birds."
There are 1400 known species of bamboo, 900 of them in tropical regions and
the others in temperate areas. In the United States, river cane (Arudinaria
gigantea) grows along riverbanks and in low woods, while its cousin switch cane
(Arundinaria tecta) grows in pine barrens, live oak woods and in sandy areas
along streams. Both species range from New Jersey south to Florida and west
to Texas.
In 2003, Clark and Triplett received a grant from the National Geographic Society
to study the two American bamboos in their native habitats. They kept hearing
about hill cane, and when they finally saw it, they knew it was different. "It's so
exciting," said Clark, "to find a new species in our own backyard."