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• Pseudosasa japonica

Pseudosasa japonica — Japanese arrow bamboo

Facts

Japanese arrow bamboo is an occasional visitor to Connecticut, where it has been found in forest edges, disturbed and cultivated areas. It is widely cultivated as an ornamental, and in Japan it was traditionally used for making arrow shafts.

Habitat

Anthropogenic (man-made or disturbed habitats), forest edges

Characteristics

• Flowers

  Anther number

  3

  Floret number

  5–25

  Glume relative length

  neither glume is quite as long as all of the florets

  Glume veins

  • 5
  • 7 or more

  Inflorescence arrangement

  the spikelets are uniform

  Inflorescence branches

  the flowers are attached to branches rather than to the main axis of the inflorescence

  Inflorescence crowding

  the panicle is somewhat to very spread out, with clearly-evident branches

  Inflorescence type (general)

  the spikelets are borne on stalks or on branches

  Inflorescence type (specific)

  the inflorescence is branched, and the branches do NOT both grow from the same side of the plant AND look like spikes

  Lemma awn number

  • the lemma has no awn
  • the lemma has one awn on it

  Lemma hairs

  the lemma is hairless between the veins

  Lemma surface

  the surface of the lemma is relatively smooth (not counting any longitudinal veins or hairs)

  Lemma tip

  the lemma tip is a simple point, with or without an awn (long narrow extension ending in a point)

  Lemma vein number

  7 or more

  One or more florets

  there is more than one floret per spikelet

  Reproductive system

  all the flowers on the plant have both carpels and stamens (synoecious)

  Spikelet axis tip

  there is no extension of the spikelet axis beyond the tip of the spikelet

  Spikelet length

  35–100 mm

  Spikelet pedicel

  the spikelets have pedicels

  Spikelets spiny

  the spikelets do not appear spiny

• Growth form

  Lifespan

  the plant lives more than two years

  Rhizomes

  yes

  Roots

  the plant has rhizomes (horizontal underground stem with roots growing from it)

• Leaves

  Leaf auricles

  • the leaves do not have auricles
  • the leaves have auricles

  Leaf blade base

  the leaf has a stalk-like base

  Leaf blade cross-section

  the leaf blade is more or less flat in cross-section, or slightly folded or rolled inwards

  Leaf blade hairs

  • the leaf blade is hairless, but it may have tiny prickles that give it a sand-papery feel
  • the leaf blade is hairy

  Leaf blade length

  15–37 cm

  Leaf blade width

  15–50 mm

  Leaf ligule type

  • the leaf ligule is in the form of a membrane
  • the leaf ligule is in the form of a membrane with fine hairs

  Leaf margin glands

  there are no glands along the edges of the leaf blade

  Leaf sheath closed around stem

  the margins of the leaf sheath are overlapping and not fused together except in the basal half (or less)

  Leaf sheath hairs

  • there are hairs on the surface of the leaf sheath
  • there are no hairs on the surface of the leaf sheath

• Place

  Habitat

  terrestrial

  New England state

  Connecticut

  Specific habitat

  • edges of forests
  • man-made or disturbed habitats

• Stem, shoot, branch

  Plant height

  100–500 cm

  Stem orientation

  the stems are upright

  Stem spacing

  the stems grow singly or a few together (they may form diffuse colonies)

  Stem thickness at base

  Up to 15 mm

Wetland status

Not classified

New England distribution and conservation status

From the dichotomous key of Flora Novae Angliae