The bamboo is a tall, perennial plant that has been grown for a couple of centuries. There are different types of bamboo house plants, and they come in a variety of sizes and shapes.
Most bamboo species have vivid green foliage, while others come in gold. Depending on the species, the length of bamboo plants varies, ranging from massive timber to little annuals.
Did you know bamboos grow exceptionally quickly and can reach heights of 91–122 cm in just one day?
Runners and clumpers are the two most common forms of bamboo species. Clumper bamboo trees grow into a slowly spreading tuft, whereas runner bamboo plants generate branches many meters away from the parent plant.
This plant works well as a privacy screen or hedge, but it may also be a focal point in the home.
Over a hundred different types of bamboo house plants may be grown indoors, ranging from tiny table plants to towering centerpieces.
Consider the bamboo kinds on this list if you want to have some bamboo in your home.
1. Fargesia Bamboo
Fargesia is a type of clumping bamboo which belongs to the grass family’s flowering plant division.
It is indigenous to China; however, you may also find it in the eastern Himalayas and Vietnam. In Chinese, they are known as ‘Jian Zhu,’ which means arrow bamboo.
Fargesia Bamboo was given the scientific name Fargesia in honor of a French botanist named Père Paul Guillaume Farges.
Some Fargesia species, such as fountain bamboo and umbrella bamboo, are grown as decorative plants.
Because they are inexpensive and have dense clumping characteristics, they are now accessible in many nurseries worldwide.
Among the different types of bamboo, these unique clumping bamboos are recognized as the world’s hardiest bamboos; however, they are not invasive.
They are the adorable Giant Pandas’ favorite meal, and the reduction in Fargesia has the most negative impact on China’s panda population.
2. Giant Bamboo
It is one of the world’s most gigantic bamboo species from Southeast Asia. These grayish-green bamboos grow in bunches and can reach 30 meters in height (98 feet). It rises swiftly, up to 40 centimeters per day under ideal circumstances.
Giant bamboo may be seen growing along river banks at low and high elevations. Furthermore, you can find this type of bamboo in Thailand, Myanmar, Indonesia, Southeast Asia, Sri Lanka, India, and Bangladesh. The bamboo’s culms are straight and powdery in appearance.
When the color dries, it turns brownish-green with a smooth surface, and its juvenile shoots are a dark purple-black tint.
In India, giant bamboo is commonly utilized for bridge construction. Concrete, tiles, ladders, scaffolding, house frames in walls, and floor coverings are used as reinforcement. Thatching is a widespread usage for its leaves.
3. Guadua Bamboo
Guadua is a thorny clumping bamboo that belongs to the Neotropical genus. These species of bamboo are originated from Uruguay through Trinidad and northern Mexico.
Although, they may also be found in various environments, including savannas, gallery forests, lower-montane forests, lowland tropical forests, and valley inter-Andean vegetation.
Among the different types of bamboo, the Orinoco and Amazon basins have the highest densities of the species. Many species, including Atlantic Bamboo Rats and Amazon rats, rely on the Guadua bamboo as an essential part of their diet.
The trees are generally found at low elevations of less than 1,500 meters, and however certain species may survive at heights of more than 2,500 meters.
The Guadua is an essential American bamboo because it is commonly utilized for home construction along Ecuador’s coastlines and river banks.
The construction material is popular because it provides excellent watershed protection.
Furthermore, this bamboo is used as vegetable steel because of its mechanical characteristics; however, the natural populations have been depleted due to over-exploitation.
4. Chilean Bamboo
Chilean bamboo is a species of flowering plant from the Poaceae grass family. It is an evergreen bamboo that is native to South America and is generally a frost-tolerant species.
Chilean bamboo is widely cultivated in temperate regions, from southwestern Argentina, the humid forests of Chile, and the rainforests of Valdivia.
Chilean bamboo is an essential plant because it controls the patterns of forest dynamics. This bamboo impedes the regeneration of tree species to prevent them from growing too quickly and dying off from the cold.
Chilean bamboo grows up to a height of 8m or 26 feet, and their cane could grow up to 6m and be initially used by Aboriginal tribes to make the pole of their spears.
Chilean bamboo can also be used to make trutruca, a musical instrument.
Lastly, their lanceolate leaves have an end spine, and their flowers are light brown. Its blooming periods can last up to 60 years, and unlike other types of bamboo, the plant dies after releasing its seeds.
Among the different types of bamboos, the stems of the Chilean bamboo are some of the strongest and are completely solid.
5. Dwarf Green Stripe Bamboo
Dwarf Green Stripe bamboo’s scientific name is Pleioblastus. It is the East Asian genus of monopodial bamboo.
The plant is native to Japan, China, New Zealand, Europe, Korea, and the Western Hemisphere.
Dwarf Green Stripe is known for its chartreuse leaves with green stripes, which look beautiful in early summer and spring.
These types of bamboo are partially deciduous, even in mild winters, which is why gardeners mowed to the ground in spring to maintain its beauty.
It is cold-hardy and can survive up to 0° F; however, some species can even survive the intense colds of Minnesota.
The Dwarf Green Stripe bamboo leaves are covered in fine hair at the bottom, making the bamboo highly resistant to bamboo mites.
Furthermore, the plant spreads vigorously through underground rhizomes, running beneath the soil’s surface and producing small plantlets at the nodes.
Gardeners can use them to propagate new plants; however, gardeners should be careful as they can become invasive if they aren’t removed properly.
6. Arrow Bamboo
Japanese arrow bamboo, also known as Pseudosasa japonica, is popular because Japanese Samurai utilized bamboo canes to create arrows.
They’re native to Korea and Japan’s Kyushu, Honshu, and Honshu islands. They’re also cultivated in the United States, from Florida to southern Connecticut, in plant zones 6-10.
The arrow bamboo is a tough plant that can withstand temperatures as low as 0°F/17.7°C. It has palm-like leaves and may grow in full sun or shade.
The leaves of this plant can reach a length of 5 to 13 inches, and it has a yellow-brown tint and can thrive in containers and proximity to salty air.
7. Black Bamboo
Phyllostachys is generally known as Black Bamboo and belongs to the genus of Asian bamboo.
Southern and central China, the Himalayas, and northern Indochina are home to this species. However, these species have adapted and naturalized in Australia, America, southern Europe, and Asia.
The black bamboo’s culm or stem has a large sulcus groove. This runs the whole length of each bamboo inter-node or segment.
This distinguishes black bamboo from other types of bamboo because it aids its aggressive propagation through underground rhizomes.
If the conditions are right, the Phyllostachys species can reach a height of 30 meters (100 feet). Because it is frequently used to build furniture and construction, the bigger type of black bamboo is known as wood bamboo.
Despite their propensity for causing problems, other species are employed as decorative plants. They’re an invasive species that must be cultivated in containers or artificially limited.
Bonsai trees can be grown from some species.
8. River Cane Bamboo
River Cane Bamboo is endemic to the United States’ south-central and southeastern areas, including Texas, Oklahoma, and Maryland.
It is a perennial grass that does well in moist areas. The cane has a rounded, hollow stem that can reach a height of 10 meters (33 feet).
It spreads by a massive network of thick underground rhizomes and features lance-shaped leaves and panicles or racemes in its inflorescence.
A single cane can survive for more than a decade. It produces flowers and seeds sporadically, depending on the circumstances.
The Cherokee have long utilized this kind of bamboo for basketry and maintain canebrakes by burning and cutting them regularly.
The technique was stopped after European occupation on their territories, resulting in the extinction of River Cane Bamboo.
This nearly resulted in the extinction of the Cherokee people’s basket-making craft, which is still an essential element of their economy.
Many indigenous peoples utilized it to manufacture blowguns, bows, arrows, medicine, flutes, walls, candles, knives, tobacco pipes, sleeping mats, and fish traps, among other things.
