The giant timber bamboo, Bambusa oldhamii, is a rather nice clumping bamboo that grows from rhizomes underground. It hails from the plains of China and Taiwan. The binomial name of Bambusa oldhamii has the following meanings:
- Bambusa-this is the Latin form of the Dutch word bamnoes, their name for the plant. The Dutch word is derived from the Malay word bambu.
- Oldhamii-Richard Oldham is the man who collected the type specimen for this species in Taiwan. He was a gardener at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. He then became a plant collector in East Asia from 1861.
The individual culms of this fast-growing species can reach a height of eighteen metres, with their diameter being up to twelve centimetres. the internodes on the culms are hollow and can be 20-30 centimetres long. They are round in cross-section. In habit it is upright and bushy.
Branches appear from the nodes a few metres up the culm. Each branch can reach a metre in length. On each of these branches, there are up to nine leaves, arranged alternately along the branches. The leaves are lance to oblong-shaped, reaching up to thirty centimetres long by six centimetres wide. The leaf and leaf sheath are both ribbed. The leaf sheath can be twelve centimetres long.
Inflorescences can reach one metre in length and have basal bracts. Just like the branches, they grow from the nodes. The inflorescences are composed of several flattened spikes reaching four centimetres long. They have basal glues, which are sterile bracts at the base of the spikes. There are up to ten fertile flowers on each spikelet, with some sterile ones too. The flowers are wind pollinated.
The giant timber bamboo is very tolerant of cold climates, but does grow well in Australia. It needs full sun to part shade and moist well-drained soils to thrive.
https://plants.jstor.org/stable/10.5555/al.ap.person.bm000331309
https://www.botanybrisbane.com/plants/poaceae-bamboos/bambusa/bambusa-oldhamii/
https://bamboo.org.au/bamboo/giant-timber–or-oldhams-bamboo
https://www.bambooland.com.au/bambusa-oldhamii