[263] Phyllostachys aurea, Fishpole Bamboo

[263] Phyllostachys aurea, Fishpole Bamboo

Introduction

Phyllostachys aurea, Fishpole Bamboo (or Fish-pole Bamboo), is a species of bamboo commonly planted in gardens and parks, sometimes trimmed into the form of a hedge.

It has other common names including Golden Bamboo and Yellow Bamboo.

All grasses in the tribe Bambusoideae are called bamboos, as are many genera that have recently been moved out of this subfamily.

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Plants

Division – Vascular Plants

Class – Angiosperms (Flowering Plants)

Clade – Monocots

Order – Poales

Family – Poaceae

Subfamily – Bambusoideae (Bamboo)

Tribe – Arundinarieae (Single subtribe)

Subtribe – Arundinariinae (Temperate woody bamboos)

Genus – Phyllostachys

Scientific Name – Phyllostachys aurea

Name

The derivation of ‘bamboo’ is uncertain but it probably comes via Dutch or Portuguese from Malay bamboo.

When I was young, we sometimes went fishing in the local river. We used a net held in a circle of metal that was fixed to the end of a piece of bamboo. The same bamboo is used in gardening to support small growing plants or for cheap fencing. Of course, this is not the only species used for fishpoles.

The Latinized genus Bambusa and higher-level taxonomic name are derived from the modern English name. Phyllo-stachys from Ancient Greek roots, means leaf-ear (in the sense of an ear of corn or other grain) and relates to its flowers, so it could apply to any bamboo! Aurea means golden. In Britain it may not look golden or yellow.

Description

There are over a thousand species of bamboo and to the layman they are just large grasses. Of course, technically the obvious characteristics are ‘the presence of bracteate, indeterminate inflorescences, “pseudospikelets”, and flowers with three lodicules, six stamens, and three stigmata.’ They come from tropical or sub-tropical climates and their canes have many uses.

Fishpole Bamboo is a typical species of bamboo normally growing to three or four metres in height. It can form clumps that are quite bushy in appearance. There is not much else that I can say about it.

Its other names are derived from the fact that canes can turn yellow and eventually orange-gold in bright sunlight, but those that I have seen have been just green.

Habitat and use

Phyllostachys aurea is native to parts of China.

It is widely cultivated in gardens and is suited to use as a (tall) hedge. Several cultivars are available, many of which are selected to exaggerate the yellow colouring. It is so much the most common cultivated species that it is often described as Bamboo aurea in horticulture.

Other Notes

I have been surprised to see this so much in gardens. Most of my pictures come from a local street pavement.

See also

Other species of Phyllostachys and other types of bamboo may be cultivated for garden use. You may also see them in public ornamental parks.

I had expected to find Sugarcane (Saccharum officinalis and related species) to be a bamboo but it isn’t. Sugar is a distantly related type of grass that is closer to [364] Maize (known in the USA as corn.)

[261] Phragmites australis, Reed

[261] Phragmites australis, Reed

Introduction

The (Common) Reed is a type of tall grass associated with wetlands with a very wide distribution. It may be called Phragmites australis, but it has well over a hundred scientific synonyms.

The word Reed is used for several grass-like species in the order Poales, not all of which are in the grass family Poaceae. This includes [349] Reed-mace, also called Bulrush or Cattail.

Taxonomy

Kingdom Plants

Division – Vascular Plants

Class – Angiosperms (Flowering Plants)

Order – Poales

Family – Poaceae

Subfamily – Arundinoideae

Tribe – Molinieae

Suntribe – Moliniinae

Genus – Phragmites

Scientific Name – Phragmites australis

It has many scientific synonyms.

Name

The Middle English word reed for any tall grass growing near water is of unknown origin. It has come to have several other meanings such as the mouthpiece pf a musical instrument or the straw used for thatching.

Phragmites is its name in Latin coming from Ancient Greek. Australis means southern – probably from the place it was first identified.

Description

Unless you look closely, Reeds are just very tall, ordinary looking grass. In many places they are two to three metres tall and they can reach a height of four metres.

Flowers that come in late summer form a dark purple inflorescence.

Habitat and use

Phragmites australis is found over Eurasia and North America, although the American subspecies is sometimes assigned to species status.

It grows in or near water and can form extensive reed beds by spreading with horizontal runners

The other three species of Phragmites have limited geographical distributions.

See also

You will have seen lots of other posts about species of grass.

[146] Festuca glauca, Blue Fescue

[146] Festuca glauca, Blue Fescue

Introduction

Festuca glauca, Blue Fescue, is one of about five hundred species of Fescue. It is widely grown as an ornamental grass for its bluish colour.

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Plants

Division – Vascular Plants

Class – Angiosperms (Flowering Plants)

Clade – Monocots

Clade – Commelinids

Order – Poales

Family – Poaceae

Subfamily – Pooideae

Supertribe – Poodae

Tribe – Poeae

Subtribe – Lilinae

Genus – Festuca (Fescue)

Scientific Names – Festuca glauca

There are many cultivars of this and other Festuca species.

Name

The Latin Festuca means stem or stalk. Fescue is cognate coming via Old French. I have only ever seen the English word glaucous used in relation to plants and animals – it means a shade of pale blue-grey.

Description

We have seen [074] Fountaingrass, and [097] Pampas Grass, and there are other grasses to come. The Fescues are generally much smaller than these two ornamental varieties but Festuca glauca is large enough to form a specimen display plant.

It has a clumpy nature and its evergreen leaves are blue enough to be unusual.

The flower stalks are relatively insignificant, certainly not as impressive as Pampas Grass!

Habitat and use

My guess is that the hundreds of species of Festuca have a world-wide distribution but I think Festuca glauca has its origins in the Americas.

Many species of Fescue are used as turf grasses, as pasture or hay for livestock, or as ornamental plants.

There are many cultivars of Festuca glauca, which tend to be named specifically as blue.

Other Notes

There are far too many species of grass for me to cover and most of them are far too difficult to identify. An ordinary garden lawn may have dozens of species. You can take this post as representing all the other smaller ornamental varieties that people have in their gardens – not the Pampas Grass and others that may adorn public parks.

See also

You can guess what is to still come from the grass family. There are a few more …

[097] Cortaderia selloanna, Pampas Grass

[097] Cortaderia selloanna, Pampas Grass

Introduction

Cortaderia selloanna, Pampas Grass, is a species of very large grass, native to the Pampas area of South America. It is cultivated in Britain as an ornamental plant and in other countries has become invasive. 

Several other species are also known as Pampas Grass.

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Plants

Division – Vascular Plants

Class – Angiosperms (Flowering Plants)

Clade – Monocots

Order – Poales (Grasses, Sedges and Rushes)

Family – Poaceae (True Grasses)

Subfamily – Danthanioideae

Tribe – Danthomieae

Genus – Cortaderia

Scientific Name – Cortaderia selloanna

Several cultivars are available.

Name

The name Pampas Grass comes from its place of origin. Cortaderia comes from the Argentine Spanish ‘cortadera’ meaning cutter from the razor-sharp leaf edges. This species was named in 1827 to honour Friedrich Sellow (1789-1831) a German botanist who worked as a plant collector in Brazil. His name was variously spelled Sello, which was the usual spelling of his father’s name.

Description

The family Poaceae (with about 12 000 species) is divided into twelve subfamilies. As we have seen, they are all grasses and are fairly similar. But Cortaderia selloanna is one of the largest species (excluding bamboos) with a height of three to four metres.

I suppose I have to compare it with [074] Fountaingrass. Well it’s much bigger, much taller, and the flower heads are very much bigger. I can’t say much more about its appearance.

Before the flowers appear, it is just a very large grass.

But it is the flowers that make it so attractive in the Summer and Autumn.

• 

• 

• 

• 

Habitat and use

Pampas Grass is native to an area in central South America but has been introduced and naturalised in several countries. It is understandably grown as an attractive garden plant but is an unwanted invasive plant in countries where it can spread in the wild but we don’t have that problem in Britain.

It is often just a specimen plant in private gardens but in larger parks outside there is scope for large displays such as at Slimbridge.

• 

• 

• 

• 

It is obviously carefully managed there and is cut down every year.

Other Notes

Pampas Grass is much more common and widespread than I remember from fifty years ago, especially in the South of England. It is very common on the Isle of Wight. Perhaps the climate has improved or perhaps more people are planting bigger and better plants in their gardens. 

See also

We have had [068] Hanging Sedge and [074] Fountaingrass already. More grasses are to come – wild, ornamental and crops.

[074] Cenchrus setaceus, Crimson Fountaingrass

[074] Cenchrus setaceus, Crimson Fountaingrass

Introduction

Cenchrus setaceus, Crimson Fountaingrass is a species of large grass native to Africa and the Middle East, grown in the UK as an ornamental grass.

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Plants

Division – Vascular Plants

Class – Angiosperms (Flowering Plants)

Clade – Monocots

Clade – Commenilids

Order – Poales (Grasses, Sedges and Rushes)

Family – Poaceae (Grasses)

Clade – PACMAD

Subfamily – Paninoideae

Supertribe – Panicodae

Tribe – Paniceae

Subtribe – Cenchrinae

Genus – Cenchrus

Scientific Name – Cenchrus setaceus

Not all species have quite such complicated taxonomy but Poaceae is a very large family.

Name

The word ‘crimson’ is a bit of an exaggeration. Some of its varieties, some of the time have flowers that in part are reddish or light purple.

Cenchrus is very closely related to the genus Pennisetum, known as fountaingrasses. The boundaries are unclear and many species are disputed. Some scientists include all Cenchrus species within Pennisetum. C setaceus has been moved out of Pennisetum.

Cenchrus is Latinized Greek for millet. Setaceous (or setaceus in Latin) means bristly.

Grasses

As we have seen with [068] Hanging Sedge, the family Poaceae is very large. I have put in a fuller taxonomy than usual above to show how complex it is, but the distinctions are mostly biochemical or microscopic. The 12 000 species within this family would all be instantly recognisable to most people who would describe them as just grass – as they would also for thousands more species within Poales such as the sedges and rushes. They have long, thin, erect, plain triangular leaves with flower spikes.

Grass provides 50% of human food consumption (rice, wheat, maize and many others) and is used extensively for lawns, sports (golf, cricket and many others,) and in parks.

Most of the grass that you see is very small with many species mixed so I have picked out some of the larger ornamental species for blog posts.

Description

Cenchrus has about thirty species, native to most of the World except Europe.

Cenchrus setaceus is a typical grass and grows rapidly to a spreading plant over a metre in height.

It produces many large, attractive, feathery flower spikes.

I could have said: ‘The inflorescence is a very dense, narrow panicle containing fascicles of spikelets interspersed with bristles,’ but I’m sticking to feathery flower spikes.

Habitat and use

C setaceus is native to tropical Africa and the Middle East. It has been introduced to the UK and other countries as an ornamental grass and has become invasive in many places.

Other Notes

It may be coincidence but the only place I have identified this grass is surrounding the fountain honouring Edward Elgar in Cheltenham. Maybe the designers wondered what sort of grass could go with a fountain.

See also

We have seen [068] which is not technically a grass. More species to come will include mostly ornamental varieties.

[I know you were wondering about the unusual name of the PACMAD clade. It’s just an abbreviation for the subfamilies it includes – Panicoideae, Arundinoideae, Chloridoideae, Micrairoideae, Aristidoideae, and Danthonioideae. So, it’s a sister group to BOP – Bambusoideae, Oryzoideae, Pooideaea.]