Those are bamboo rhizomes, but they don't look like any clumper I've ever seen. They do look like standard runners. My suggestion is to pot them up to see what you have. They may or may not grow, as propagation of bamboo from rhizomes is not a good way to try to get a new plant: the success rate can be low, and it takes years to get a decent size plant.

Then you should turn to a legitimate bamboo seller (I typically avoid eBay for bamboo because a large number of folks on there are either incompetent or deceptive in regard to what they are selling). You should buy a complete plant, and not just a piece of rhizome. It'll cost more, but you'll be a lot happier. If you say what part of the country you live in and your growing Zone, I might be able to suggest a source. Feel free to re-post here, or email me.

I'm patient as far as plant size goes, I don't plan on moving from this house and I'm 33.

I'm in Nashville, TN z7b i think

I checked the list of bamboo nurseries that are American Bamboo Society members and there is one close to you in Madison, TN, that says it carries 70 varieties of bamboo:

Lone Oak Farm (615-865-9933)

I don't know about this nursery personally, but since they're ABS members they should be knowledgeable and reliable.

Yeah I must have called this place a dozen times or more, sometimes a voice mail but never a return call, even driven by once. it's just on the other side of the river at the bottom of my neighborhood, but it's 20 min away by road because of where the brige is.

Well, dang! I don't know of any other ABS bamboo nurseries that sell retail in Tenn. However, there are some in adjoining states, and you could buy a small clumper by mail order. Below is a link for all ABS nurseries in the U.S. You could contact ones near your state and ask for recommendations, and about prices and mailing charges. Some have web sites. Good luck.

Here is a link that might be useful: ABS plant sources

I bought some bamboo from someone saying the same thing... may be the same people. sutton something-or-other was thier Ebay name. I described what a thanmocalamus division would look like, and they said, yep, thats it. I ordered, and got small chunks of rhizome. I would hazard a guess that it was problably Arundinaria sp. or Phyllostachys aureasulcata. when I got the pieces I immediately emaild them and let them know that they had misrepresented thier item, and after a LONG drawn out battle with them, got paypay to refund my money. They were extremely rude after the sale.
hope you are dealing with someone else, but either way, you have a running bamboo not a clumping Thamnocalamus

ghmerrill, it was the sutton860 seller in IL I purchased from. The only listing on ebay for thanmocalamus, then the paperwork they sent with the rhizomes was titled "River Cane"

Tell me... did you find another vendor for thanmocalamus tessellatus or did you go with a different clumper all together?

Yep, those are the ones. If I were you, I would start my fruad case through paypal right away. two things to think about with what you got
1- you paid for what was advertised, Thamnocalamus tessalatus, but got something completely different.

2- going by the sizes of those rhizome pieces, you probalby wont get anything to survive

look back in thier history, you will find my feedback for them, same handle as on here.

People like that are what gives ebay buying a bad name. I had assumed after seeing the rhizome sections that they were probalby Arundinaria (river cane) as they had air canals, but figured it could also have been some other common bamboo like P. aureasulcata.

on what I went with... I was actually looking for the thamno starts for potting up to use as trading material. for clumpers, I have one in the ground already, a nice division I got from Fred in CA who posts here on the forums. total for clumpers, I have a little over 30 varieties, almost all planted last year. I took about a 10 year break from collecting bamboo, then when we bought property a few years ago, moved the few I had, but had to focus the time and $$ into fencing, repairs, and that kind of stuff. about a year and a half ago I started working on the boo collection again, a few purchases, as I could, and LOTS of trades, and hit a bit over 100 types recently. by the end of this year my goal is to have 200 varieties either in ground or potted- I cobbled togeather a greenhouse, so I can tuck the plants that wont make it here in my zone away for the winter.

we have an 11 acre farm, I raise birds for the pet trade- cockateils, small parrots, etc, and want to begin a small nursery opperation with the bamboo, so what I am planting now are for my display garden. in talking to folks who have been around a while in the boo biz, I am also potting up extra plants so those can be the ones I take divisions off of. I did a trade with CJ, who posts here also, and got a Yushania last year. I was able to take 4 1 gallon divisions off of it last spring, have traded all those off, so unpotted it, and it was ripe for divisions again- another 6!

anyway, sorry for the long post! :)

Started the claim process, they denied it at first, but have come back with an offer that was $10 less than what I paid. I counteroffered and am waiting to hear back from them.

Called around to some of the larger nurseries yesterday and pretty much they either don't fool with boo or they will have Rufa for a clumper and Yellow Grove for a runner.

Planning on leaving yet another message with the Lone Oak Farm today. maybe if I call everyday they'll call back.

There are lots of mail order places also. I have gotten plants from bamboogarden, as was very impressed. shipping is not terrible, considering the weight of the plants.

Got a refund from sutton860, came out to us both taking about a $4 loss but I don't have to ship the product back.

Third day in a row I've left a message with Lone Oak Farm, maybe they will call back one day.

Don't know how dedicated to that particular variety you are, but I'd check out Burnt Ridge Nursery as they have THAMNOCALAMUS CRASSINODUS for what I would consider a reasonable price.

I just started a dispute through paypal, myself (though not plant related). Are you saying you need to bargain with the seller over what the refund will be? I wonder how it will work considering my seller seems to be ignoring all contact from any of the recent purchasers of items (there are a few of us evidently who didn't receive the items we purchased).

I'm probably going to order one or more of the bamboos from BR myself, I just haven't decided upon the other plants I'll order from them this year, yet.

~Chills

Finally got in touch with Lone Oak Farm. Really nice gentleman, spoke to him for about 25 min..

Apparently none of the clumpers do well in middle Tennessee, apparently the Fargesia's handle the winter just fine but our summers fry them and the Bamboosa types handle the summer just fine but our winters kill them.

He suggested Psudosusa Japonica (arrow bamboo), that it was a runner but didn't really run, he had a grove where he planted 12 small plants and it's only about 40' square after 20 years and not that hard to control.

May go out there in a few weeks to take a look at all he's got.

see what he wants for them, price wise. I have a TON potted up (about 50+ one gallon, and a bunch of other sizes) that I just potted that will be ready later in the year. I also have several 3 gal pots left from last year. I would be interested in doing trades for other types of bamboo.

The Arrow he said would be an average of about $35 depending, all he does is field divisions, you come out pick what you want he digs it and you get the whole rootball intact. He said it would be about the equivilant to a 10gal plant or so. He thanked me for being persistant... just they've been so busy on the farm tryingto get ready for the Nashville home/garden show at the beginning of March.

Hi, I am in Zone 7 and have had good luck so far with the B. textilis ÂMutabilis as a clumper. It even survived the wild ride this winter gave us with temps in the 20s for a few days and then back up to the 70s for a few days.....back and forth all winter long, it seemed. I just took steps to control the temps at the ground and on the culms. Our lowest temp was in the low teens this year.

I got mine from Tropical Bamboo in FL and they were soooo helpful. I talked with Tracey and she is very informative.

This was my plant's first year in that ground,, so I am looking forward to see how it takes off this spring! HTH

Here is a link that might be useful: Tropical Bamboo

That is a great deal for the size, I would jump on it. japonica is common, but is very nice. it works phenominal for using as a screen, and the canes are usefull for various things too.....