BOO! Trick or treat? What is this?

My cat's whiskers after she has had a drink? No! Of course, not. It has to belong to the plant kingdom after all.

 

I agree, that was unfair. Is this any better? You could eat the very young ones...................if you know what to do with them.

 

I have no idea what it is, but you're top-notch at supplying stumpers.

 

I will play fair - let's narrow it down. It's a grass.

 

Probably a bamBOO of some sort, from the coloring maybe fountain bamboo.

 

The next clue would have been "Emeril would have given you the first syllable .......loud.....and twice!" (I.e. "BAM! BAM!") So, Ron, you are on the right track, it's a "bam"-"boo". The pictures show water droplets at the tips of the oral setae. The appearance of the oral setae is one of the many means of identifying the hundreds of known bamboo species.

Here are some pictorial clues, before I give some information on dimensions:

 

The tuft of hairs were how I could tell it was probably a bamboo.

 

Maximum height 70 feet. Typical height 40-50 feet.
Culm diameter 3" to 5".
A runner.
And a beauty.

 

Vivax or bambusoides. Vivax is the more ornamental and common locally of the two.

 

Phyllostachys vivax

Ron, you are a real expert at this! But which P vivax?

(I don't seem to be able to upload pictures to this site right now - I will as soon as I can.)

 

I didn't catch the aureocaulis culm image until just now.

 

P vivax 'Aureocaulis'.
Okay, my game is up. You win, Ron.
In my opinion, this is the most beautiful and graceful of all bamboos.

(Sorry, I still don't seem to be able to upload more pictures on to the forum site.)

 

I'm still working on it, unfortunately (re: pictures): http://www.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/forums/showthread.php?t=10409

 

Better late than broken promises. Here are two more pictures of P vivax 'Aureacaulis'.

 

Hardy consolation prize for those who would like to have Bambusa vulgaris 'Vittata' in a frosty climate.