For the first time in more than 200 years, American botanists have discovered a new native American bamboo. Arundinaria appalachiana -- hill cane -- differs from the two other native US bamboos, switch cane and river cane, because it drops its leaves in the fall.
Iowa State University botanists Lynn Clark and Jimmy Triplett first heard about hill cane from Alan Weakley, a botanist at the University of North Carolina. Hill cane was known to residents of the Appalachian hills, but it was not recognized as a different species.
Clark, Triplett and Weakley published their findings about the new bamboo last year, and it was officially given its distinctive scientific name. Clark is an internationally recognized expert on bamboo, and hill cane is her 75th discovery of a new bamboo species.
According to Clark, "Most people have no idea that we have native bamboo in the U.S. But it has been a very important plant ecologically. And there's recent interest in using it for re-vegetation projects because it's native and was used for habitat by so many animals, especially birds."
There are 1400 known species of bamboo, 900 of them in tropical regions and the others in temperate areas. In the United States, river cane (Arudinaria gigantea) grows along riverbanks and in low woods, while its cousin switch cane (Arundinaria tecta) grows in pine barrens, live oak woods and in sandy areas along streams. Both species range from New Jersey south to Florida and west to Texas.
In 2003, Clark and Triplett received a grant from the National Geographic Society to study the two American bamboos in their native habitats. They kept hearing about hill cane, and when they finally saw it, they knew it was different. "It's so exciting," said Clark, "to find a new species in our own backyard."
(Illustration: J. Triplett)
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