Bambusa multiplex Seeds | Hedge Bamboo
LATIN NAME: Bambusa multiplex
COMMON NAME: Hedge Bamboo
Plant Profile
Known to gardeners as Hedge Bamboo, Bambusa multiplex is a noteworthy species. Through the flowering season it keeps visiting bees well supplied. Together these qualities explain its long-standing appeal to gardeners.
Science & Biotechnology
Botanists studying the Bambusa group regularly include Bambusa multiplex in comparative work, and the species also appears in horticultural trials aimed at gardeners and growers. This research has helped inform clearer horticultural labelling distinguishing clumping from running bamboo for prospective buyers. For practical purposes the message is encouraging: generations of cultivation have produced plants of predictable, well-mannered garden character.
Uses & Benefits
Gardeners value Hedge Bamboo for its ornamental character, and the plant also fits naturally into herb, vegetable and cutting gardens. Its fine, graceful foliage also provides an attractive, relatively low-maintenance backdrop for garden borders. A plant that has settled in will get along with only routine care.
Bamboo is pharmacy, pantry and lumberyard at once: shavings and shavings-extracts, Zhu Ru and Tian Zhu Huang, are classical Chinese herbs for heat and phlegm, the young shoots are a fiber-rich food, and modern research studies bamboo leaf flavonoids as antioxidants.
Growing from Seed
Seed is the natural starting point for Hedge Bamboo, and the process is uncomplicated. Bamboo seed availability is sporadic given the group’s unusual, infrequent flowering cycle; when seed is available, sow it promptly into a loose, well-drained mix and keep it warm and consistently moist. Bright light suits young plant well, and this clumping species will gradually widen its base over time without aggressive spreading behaviour associated with running bamboo types. Surface-sow onto a light, well-drained compost, dust over a thin covering, and keep evenly moist and sunny until the seedlings show. Prick the seedlings out once they are large enough to handle, grow them on in bright light, and plant out when conditions allow.
Our Take
Given the right start, Hedge Bamboo is a long-term garden companion. Careful watering early on is rewarded by toughness at maturity.
Related Reading
More species in the same orbit as Hedge Bamboo: