Help identify this plant

September 2, 2014 8:19 PM

What type of plant is this (pic 1, pic 2)? It looks a little like bamboo, but the stalk is much thinner.
posted by roaring beast to Science & Nature (9 answers total)

Best answer: Why don't you think it's bamboo? Bamboo can be quite thin. Source: I've lived in two houses with yards choked by bamboo, ranging from skinny to chunky.
posted by Coatlicue at 8:23 PM on September 2, 2014

Best answer: I'm pretty sure it looks like bamboo because it's bamboo.
posted by foodgeek at 8:25 PM on September 2, 2014

Best answer: That shit is bamboo. Kill it with fire and roundup before it is too late.
posted by jeffamaphone at 8:59 PM on September 2, 2014 [3 favorites]

Best answer: Bamboo. I'd hold off on the nuking from orbit until you take a stalk w/ leaves into a reputable garden shop, botanical garden or local university extension to get it ID'd. Not all bamboo is virulently invasive.
posted by Emperor SnooKloze at 12:24 AM on September 3, 2014 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Certainly Bamboo. My neighbors as a child were Chinese. Very nice couple. They had a circle of Bamboo about 4 feet in diameter that looked almost identical to what you have. They moved away years ago but the bamboo remains. What has remained doesn't seem to be very invasive, it grows up quite a bit and fairly quickly, but it is easily maintained by the current (non Chinese) owners.

Occasionally my dad (with their permission of course) will get a few stalks of it for various crazy notions he has. He likes to play with the strength/flexibility of it in his shop.
posted by Twain Device at 5:30 AM on September 3, 2014

Best answer: What beautiful bamboo you have!
posted by elf27 at 7:08 AM on September 3, 2014

Best answer: Not all bamboo is virulently invasive.

Yes, all species of "bamboo" are exotic invasives in North America. What is not exotic and less invasive is a set of native plants in the same genus that people refer to as "cane".
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 7:16 AM on September 3, 2014

Response by poster: Um ... ok, so bamboo it is! Thanks everyone!
posted by roaring beast at 12:27 PM on September 3, 2014

Response by poster: 10th Reg - It does look a lot like cane (Arundinaria) from the pics I'm seeing online.
posted by roaring beast at 12:34 PM on September 3, 2014