Black Bamboo

This species has a very extensive synonymy, as is often the case with such popular garden plants. At the time of writing, W. D. Clayton lists a total of 79 synonyms in his grass synonymy database.

Culms 4–8(–10) m, to 5 cm or more in diam.; internodes green or gradually developing purple-brown to black spots or turning uniform purple-brown or black, 25–30 cm, initially white powdery, densely puberulent; wall ca. 3 mm thick; nodal ridge slightly more prominent than or equaling sheath scar; sheath scar initially brown hairy on margin. Culm sheaths red-brown, sometimes tinged with green, unmarked or densely extremely minutely and imperceptibly dark brown spotted, spots aggregating into a distal dark brown patch, thinly white powdery, brown strigose; auricles and oral setae well developed, purple-black; ligule purple, arcuate to acutely so, long ciliate; blade erect or gradually deflexed, green or tinged with purple on both sides, triangular to triangular-lanceolate, navicular, ± wavy. Leaves 2 or 3 per ultimate branch; auricles weak or absent; oral setae deciduous; ligule slightly exserted; blade thin, 7–10 × ca. 1.2 cm. Flowering branchlets shortly spicate, 3.5–5 cm, scaly bracts 4–8. Spathes 4–6, glabrous or puberulous; auricles absent; oral setae few or absent; blade usually subulate or ovate-lanceolate, small. Pseudospikelets 1–3 per spathe. Spikelets lanceolate, 1.5–2 cm; florets 2 or 3. Glumes (absent or)1–3, abaxially ± distally pubescent; rachilla pubescent; lemma 1.2–1.5 cm, densely pubescent; palea shorter than lemma. Anthers ca. 8 mm. Stigmas 3. New shoots late Apr, fl. May.

S Hunan, widely cultivated elsewhere in China [introduced in many other countries].

* Open forests on slopes and in valleys; 1100–1200 m.

Perennials, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Rhizomes present, Rhizome elongate, creeping, stems distant, Stems woody, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems erect or ascending, Stems solitary, Stems terete, round in cross section, or polygonal, Stems compressed, flattened, or sulcate, Stems branching above base or distally at nodes, Stem nodes bearded or hairy, Stem internodes hollow, Stems with inflorescence less than 1 m tall, Stems with inflorescence 1-2 m tall, Stems with inflorescence 2-6 m tall, Stems with inflorescence 6 m or taller, Stems, culms, or scapes exceeding basal leaves, Leaves mostly cauline, Leaves conspicuously 2-ranked, distichous, Leaves pseudo-petiolate, petiole attached to sheath, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf sheath mostly open, or loose, Leaf sheath smooth, glabrous, Leaf sheath hairy at summit, throat, or collar, Leaf sheath and blade differentiated, Leaves borne on branches, Leaf blades disarticulating from sheath, deciduous at ligule, Leaf blades lanceolate, Leaves with distinct crossveins, net-like transverse veins, Leaf blade auriculate, Leaf auricules setose or ciliate, Leaf blades 1-2 cm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, Leaf blades scabrous, roughened, or wrinkled, Ligule present, Ligule a fringed, ciliate, or lobed membrane, Inflorescence lateral or axillary, Inflorescence a contracted panicle, narrowly paniculate, branches appressed or ascending, Inflorescence with 2 or m ore spikes, fascicles, glomerules, heads, or clusters per culm, Inflorescence single raceme, fascicle or spike, Inflorescence a single spikelet, Flowers bisexual, Spikelets sessile or subsessile, Spikelets laterally compressed, Inflorescence or spikelets partially hidden in leaf sheaths, subtended by spatheole, Spikelet less than 3 mm wide, Spikelets with 1 fertile floret, Spikelets with 2 florets, Spikelets with 3-7 florets, Spikelets solitary at rachis nodes, Spikelets all alike and fertille, Spikelets bisexual, Spikelets disarticulating above the glumes, glumes persistent, Spikelets disarticulating beneath or between the florets, Rachilla or pedicel glabrous, Glumes present, empty bracts, Glumes 1 clearly present, the other greatly reduced or absent, Glumes shorter than adjacent lemma, Glumes 8-15 nerved, Lemmas thin, chartaceous, hyaline, cartilaginous, or membranous, Lemma 8-15 nerved, Lemma glabrous, Lemma body or surface hairy, Lemma apex acute or acuminate, Lemma aw nless, Lemma margins thin, lying flat, Lemma straight, Palea present, well developed, Palea membranous, hyaline, Palea shorter than lemma, Palea 2 nerved or 2 keeled, Stamens 3, Styles 3 or 3-fid, deeply 3-branched, Stigmas 3, Fruit - caryopsis, Caryopsis ellipsoid, longitudinally grooved, hilum long-linear.

Phyllostachys nigra, commonly known as black bamboo or purple bamboo (Chinese: 紫竹), is a species of bamboo, native to Hunan Province of China, and is widely cultivated elsewhere.

Growing up to 25 m (82 ft) tall by 30 cm (1 ft) broad, it forms clumps of slender arching canes which turn black after two or three seasons. The abundant lance-shaped leaves are 4–13 cm (2–5 in) long.

Numerous forms and cultivars are available for garden use. The species and the form P. nigra f. henonis have both gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. The form henonis is also known as Henon bamboo and as cultivar 'Henon'.