Sulphur Bamboo

The hard but rather brittle culms are used in house construction and for handles of farm tools. The species is commonly planted for ornament.

Culms 6–15 m, 4–10 cm in diam.; internodes green or sulfur-yellow, usually with yellow or green stripes, 20–45 cm, initially thinly white powdery, glabrous, with small holes or crystalline spots (visible under 10 × lens); wall ca. 5 mm thick; nodal ridge not prominent or nearly so at unbranched nodes in larger culms; sheath scar slightly prominent, thin. Culm sheaths yellow or yellow-brown with green veins and brown rounded or more irregular spots of various sizes, thinly white powdery, glabrous; auricles and oral setae absent; ligule green-yellow, arcuate or truncate, margin pale green or white ciliate; blade reflexed, green with orange margins, narrowly triangular to linear, weakly crinkled. Leaves 2–5 per ultimate branch; sheath subglabrous or distally puberulent; auricles and oral setae usually well developed; blade oblong-lanceolate to lanceolate, 5.6–13 × 1.1–2.2 cm. Inflorescence not known. New shoots May. 2n = 48*.

* Anhui, Fujian, Henan, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Shandong, Zhejiang [cultivated in Japan, N Africa, Europe, and NorthAmerica].

Perennials, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Rhizomes present, Rhizome elongate, creeping, stems distant, Stems woody, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, S tems erect or ascending, Stems caespitose, tufted, or clustered, Stems terete, round in cross section, or polygonal, Stems compressed, flattened, or sulcate, Stems branching above base or distally at nodes, Stem internodes hollow, 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 and blade differentiated, Leaves borne on branches, Leaf blades lanceolate, Leaves with distinct crossveins, net-like transverse veins, Leaf blades 1-2 cm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, Leaf blades more or less hairy, Ligule present, Ligule a fringed, ciliate, or lobed membrane, Inflorescence lateral or axillary, Inflorescence with 2 or more spikes, fascicles, glomerules, heads, or clusters per culm, Inflorescence single raceme, fascicle or spike, 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 2 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 distinctly unequal, Glumes shorter than adjacent lemma, Lemmas thin, chartaceous, hyaline, cartilaginous, or membranous, Lemma glabrous, Lemma apex acute or acuminate, Lemma awnless, Lemma margins thin, lying flat, Lemma straight, Palea present, well developed, Palea membranous, hyaline, Palea about equal to 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 sulphurea is a species of bamboo found in Anhui, Fujian, Henan, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Shandong, Zhejiang provinces of China