Phil Bendle Collection:Bamboo (Running species)

Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Clade: Commelinids
Order: Poales
Family: Poaceae
Subfamily: Bambusoideae
Tribes: Arundinarieae, Bambuseae. Olyreae

Bamboos are evergreen, perennial, flowering plants in the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. In bamboo, as in other grasses, the internodal regions of the stem are usually hollow and the vascular bundles in the cross section are scattered throughout the stem instead of in a cylindrical arrangement. Bamboo is a very diverse plant with >1,400 species in 115 genera.

There are two forms of bamboo: the non-invasive clumping and the invasive running.
Clumping bamboos have a pachymorph rhizome system. This type of rhizome’s underground buds grow upward and become canes immediately next to the parent.
Running bamboo have a leptomorph rhizome system, their rhizomes don’t usually turn up and become canes. They grow through the soil laterally. Their buds produce either vertical canes or new rhizomes perpendicular to the parent rhizome. This dual growth system of runners enables them to cover large areas of land.

The running species are one of the world’s most invasive plants and can spread out over large areas and once established, it is literally next to impossible to control. The underground roots of common running bamboos can travel as far 15 m or more, sending up shoots along the way. The rule of running bamboo is first-year sleep, second-year creep, and third-year leap. In a short period of time, a solitary plant of running bamboo can take over an entire yard and then spread onto neighbouring properties.

A coastal bank in New Plymouth covered with an invasive bamboo that escaped from a boundary planting.
It was identified by  as a Pleioblastus species
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Thanks to Wikipedia for text and information: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

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