The Bamboo Society (EBS Great Britain) Newsletter no. 17 March 1993
SOME RECENT INTRODUCTIONS
David Crampton
By the mid 1960’s the British Isles could boast of some 50 different bamboos in cultivation, though many of these were rare or at least in very short supply.
Lawson, in his book Bamboos (1968), remarked that he would not be surprised if the number in cultivation reached the hundred mark by the turn of the century. Little could he have guessed what was coming in the 1980’s, when there was indeed, a veritable explosion of new introductions!. This was an exciting time for the bamboo enthusiast. Every year, and seemingly almost every month, there were yet more new bamboos coming in from abroad. By 1990 those of us with large collections were describing them as definitive: we thought that with over 100 species and cultivars our collections contained just about all there was to have in the way of coloured stems, variegated leaves and other aspects of horticultural worthiness.
Now, as 1992 draws to an end, and I sit at my typewriter looking out through the pouring rain at weeping vegetation and flooded meadows – whatever happened to the drought? – I am cheered by the thought that the last 12 months have been record-breaking in terms of some really wonderful new bamboos arriving in this country. Space does not permit me to list them all, but readers may be interested to have described those which are likely to be considered the most desirable:
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Phyllostachys bambusoides ‘Castillonis’ and ‘Castillonis Inversa’, variegated versions.
The first of these bamboos comes from an Australian garden and is a striking variegated clone of ‘Castillonis’. It retains the culm colours of ‘Castillonis’, rich yellow with a green stripe in the groove, but where ‘Castillonis ‘ has an occasional cream stripe in the foliage, in common with other yellow culm bamboos, this version has true white variegation in every leaf.
The second of these two bamboos is even more attractive, and for those gardeners who like variegation, this could well be the “Bamboo of the Decade”. Discovered in New Zealand, it is a variegated clone of ‘Castillonis Inversa’ * It originated in the same way as the previous bamboo, as a culm sport; that is, a culm showing characteristics different to its parent plant. The variegation is much stronger than in the variegated ‘Castillonis’, with every leaf having broad white stripes, often more white than green in the leaf. New leaves, particularly those at the apex of the culm and at the ends of the branches, tend to have orange stripes as well, which become white as the leaves mature. I have seen photographs of this bamboo growing as an established clump in New Zealand and the only word to describe it is “spectacular”. The almost white leaves with a tint of orange here and there stand out vividly against the dark green culms with their deep yellow stripes in the groove. Owing to the lack of chlorophyll in the leaves, it is likely to be shorter in ultimate stature than its non-variegated parent, attaining perhaps 4m as an average for the British Isles. Very little propagating material exists at present for these two cultivars, so they are not likely to become widely available for several years.