Aurea – Golden
Arundinaria – bamboo genus distinguished by erect, smooth culms that are round in cross-section. They do not have the groove or “sulcis” of the Phyllostachys genus. Culm sheaths are persistent.
Auricle – an earlike growth on culm sheaths
Bloom – white deposit on new culms of bamboo.
Calamus – reed
Chimonobambusa – bamboo genus named for the fact it shoots in late fall or winter (Greek -cheimon -winter)
Clone – group of cultivated plants reproduced from one original plant by vegetative means
Culm – bamboo cane.
Culm Sheath – a protective covering on bamboo culms, attached at each node.
Edulis – edible
Flexuosus – zigzag or bending
Glabrous – smooth, without hairs
Glaucous – dull, bluish-green
Gramineus – grass like
Internode – a segment of culm or rhizome between nodes
Ligule – a protective lip or rim at the tip of a culm sheath where the sheath blade attaches
Monopodal – describes the long rhizome of running (temperate) bamboos
Node – This is the joint (partition or diaphragm) between the hollow segments of a bamboo culm or rhizome
Oral setae – these are the hairs on auricles of culm sheaths
Persistent – used to describe culm sheaths that remain in place after a culm has matured
Phyllostachys – a bamboo genus with distinct grooves (sulcis) on the culms
P.I. – plant introduction number assigned by USDA
Pubescens – hairy
Pygmaeus – dwarf, very small
Rhizome – this is root-like underground stem. These store food and have buds from which new culms emerge above ground.
Sheath – see Culm Sheath above
Shoot – a young, new culm. As new culms emerge from the ground they are called “shoots”
Sulcis – the groove on the culms(canes) of species in the Phyllostachys genus.
Sympodal – clumping bamboo rhizomes
Viridi-glaucescens – bluish-green
Viridis – green