Arundinaria
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 formerly Arundinaria pumila, now Pleioblastus humilis | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Arundinaria, commonly known as the canes, is the sole temperate genus of bamboo native to the New World (though several others exist in the American tropics). The genus is endemic to the eastern United States from New Jersey south to Florida and west to Ohio and Texas. Within this region they are found from the Coastal Plain to medium elevations in the Appalachian Mountains. Its members have running rhizomes and are woody and tree-like, attaining heights from 0.5 up to 8 metres. They produce seeds only rarely and usually reproduce vegetatively instead. Among the distinctive features of the canes is a fan-like cluster of leaves at the top of new stems called a top knot. Early explorers in the US described vast stands of Arundinaria called canebrakes that were especially common in river lowlands, but these have declined significantly due to farming and fire suppression.[1][2]
The genus is the subject of much taxonomic debate and the number of species included varies depending on the treatment. It is currently treated in a sensu stricto, making it an exclusively North American genus with 3 species, though other interpretations include a number of Old World genera such as Bashania, Oligostachyum and Sarocalamus. Older systems included the large genera Fargesia and Sasa, giving the genus upwards of 400 species. When Asian taxa are included it is the only bamboo genus to occur in both the Old and New Worlds. The name is derived from the Latin word arundo meaning "reed".[2][1][3]
Use
Arundinaria gigantea (also called "river cane") has historically been used to construct Native American flutes, particularly among tribes of the Eastern Woodlands such as the Cherokee. River cane flutes were formerly found from the Eastern Seaboard to Oklahoma.
References
- a b Clark, Lynn G.; Triplett, J.K. (2006), "Arundinaria", in Flora of North America Editorial Committee, eds. 1993+, Flora of North America, vol. 25, New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press
- a b Triplett, J.K.; Weakley, A.S.; Clark, L.G. (2006), "Hill cane (Arundinaria appalachiana), a new species of bamboo (Poaceae: Bambusoideae) from the southern Appalachian Mountains", Sida 22 (1): 79 – 95, <http://www.andestoamazon.com/Sida/PDF/PDF22(1)/03_Triplett-etal_Arundinaria_79-95.pdf>. Retrieved on 2007-07-14
- Zhu, Zheng-de; De-zhu, Li; Stapleton, Chris (2007), "Arundinaria", in Wu, Z. Y.; Raven, P.H.; Hong, D.Y., Flora of China, vol. 22, Beijing: Science Press; St. Louis: Missouri Botanical Garden Press, pp. 112
External links
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia; from the article "Arundinaria". Image Credit.
