....maybe someone has some ideas here about species. I came across a grove of running bamboo growing just outside St. Louis, MO that had been started 10 years before from a single division of unknown species. The grove now is easily the size of a 2 car garage. Here are some details, and I'll get some pics this weekend and follow up:

The older culms were around 20' with max diameters about 1" (cross section size similar to a nickle). The culms had no sulci (?plural of sulcus I believe?) between nodes, were uniform in green color, and were smooth to the touch. Many of the culms had a scattering of retained sheaths. None were overtly "zig zag" in pattern, but only a few had slight bending at nodes near ground. By far all culms were straight and upright.

The nodes all seemed to have one branch point, and on older culms 3 or 4 rather thick, firm branches at each point with notable retained sheaths.

In terms of leaves I would say mature leaves were dark green and about the size of an adult finger. There was a moderate amount of leaf damage from winter overall. One thing I distinctly recall is that lower branches and those on smaller culms ended with 3 leaves. The leaf pattern became much more dense higher up.

There were no new shoots breaking ground as yet. I'm not the greatest at descriptions but if anyone has any ideas I would appreciate hearing them. I plan to get plenty of pictures including new shoots and have been given the ok to take some. However, I am really only interested in growing known species.

Thanks all for reading and any input and have a great upcomming spring!