For a general discussion of the bamboos belonging to this genus, see Arundinaria. The distinctive characters of Phyllostachys are in the stems, which are always more or less zigzag and flattened on each side alternately above the joint; and in the two or three branches only at each joint, those at the base of the stem developing first.
It is a genus of about thirty-five species in Japan, China, and the Himalaya.
The following revised account of the cultivated species is based on the article by Dr C. E. Hubbard in the Royal Horticultural Society’s Dictionary of Gardening, Supplement 1969, pp. 449-50; and on the nomenclatural notes by F. A. McClure in Journ. Arn. Arb., Vol. 37, pp. 186-96.
From the Supplement (Vol. V)
For an account of the cultivated species by David McClintock, see European Garden Flora, Vol. 2, pp. 56-8 (with key).