Dendrocalamus asper

Dendrocalamus asper, also known as giant bamboo or dragon bamboo (in China), is a giant, tropical, clumping species of bamboo native to Southeast Asia. In addition to its prolific nature across Asia, the plant's overall attractive appearance (and ease of care) has seen this species introduced widely across South America and Africa (namely Kenya, Malawi and Ghana), as well as Mexico and Florida. One advantage of this bamboo, especially for gardens, is its natural growth habit as a sympodial, colony-forming plant. Overall this bamboo maintains its own "personal" growing space, and does not grow laterally (runners), thus posing less risk of being environmentally-invasive. Although D. asper is widely considered to be non-invasive, that is only a generalized experience of most gardeners. Any species of plant can grow one way in its early stages of life, only to then grow very differently in another, especially if relocated. This could be seen as significant growth spurts, or gradually decreasing vigor of the plant. Changes in growth habit can potentially be due to warmer or colder climates, irrigation methods, higher or lower precipitation, chemical exposures, varying soil and substrate types, or just general transplant shock. The majority of individuals planting D. asper praise its neat, mound-forming growth habit, and overall hardiness. This bamboo species of the genus Dendrocalamus grows 15–20 m tall, and 8–12 cm in diameter. It is found commonly in India, Sri Lanka, Southwest China and Southeast Asia. and more recently in Latin America and warmer regions in the United States. This timber bamboo has traditionally used as a building material for heavy construction because its culms are large diameter and very straight, and its young shoots are consumed as a vegetable. Along with Moso bamboo in China, Dendrocalamus asper is the most popular bamboo species in Asia whose shoots are...