Species |
Origin |
Attributes |
Edibility |
Acidosasa edulis |
China |
Yields up to 20,000 kg/hectare |
Delicious |
A. chinensis |
Southern China with 1 species in Vietnam |
Are edible and used for papermaking and weaving |
Edible |
Bambusa balcooa |
Female bamboo native to Northeast India |
Are edible and used as papermaking or wood chips. |
Good |
B. bambos |
Southeast Asia |
Indian thorny bamboo |
Edible |
B. beecheyana |
Southern China to Indo-China and Taiwan |
Large clump-forming bamboo |
Good |
B. blumeana |
Indonesia and Malaysia |
Thorny bamboo |
Good |
B. gibboides |
Southeast Asia, China |
Evergreen clumping bamboo |
Good |
B. polymorpha |
Myanmar, Thailand, and Bangladesh |
Sweet tasting edible shoots |
Good |
B. tulda |
Indian subcontinent, Indo-china, Tibet, and Yunnan |
Mostly used as paper pulp in India |
Good |
B. tuldoides |
Asia, China, Vietnam, Laos, Malaysia, and Myanmar |
Erect, evergreen, clump forming bamboos |
Good |
B. vulgaris |
Indochina and Yunnan province of southern China |
Open clump type bamboo specie |
Edible |
Chimonobambusa communis |
China, Vietnam, Japan, Himalayas, and Myanmar |
Running bamboo with swollen node |
Good |
C. macrophylla |
– |
– |
Delicious |
C. marmorea |
– |
– |
Delicious |
C. pachystachys |
China South-Central |
Leaf all year |
Delicious |
C. puberula |
Assam, China, East Himalaya |
Medium size spreading bamboo |
Delicious |
C. quadrangularis |
– |
Rounded square culms |
Delicious |
C. rigidula |
China |
Distinctive bulging nodes and shaped canes |
Delicious |
C. szechuanensis |
E. Asia – W. China, Sichuan. |
Mostly used for medicinal purposes |
Delicious |
C. tumidissinoda |
– |
Used for walking sticks in Sichuan |
Delicious |
C. utilis |
– |
– |
Good |
C. delicatus |
China |
– |
Delicious |
Dendrocalamus asper |
Southeast Asia |
– |
Good |
D. brandisii |
– |
Velvet Leaf Bamboo, Teddy Bear Bamboo, or Sweet Dragon Bamboo |
Good |
D. giganteus |
Myanmar (Burma), Bhutan, China and Thailand |
Giant Bamboo or Dragon Bamboo |
Good |
D. latiflorus |
Southern China and Taiwan |
Taiwan Giant Bamboo |
Good |
D. latiflorus |
Southern China and |
Taiwan
Taiwan Giant Bamboo |
Good |
D. membranaceus |
Southeast Asia |
White Bamboo |
Edible |
D. strictus |
Southeast Asia and India |
Male Bamboo, Solid Bamboo or Calcutta Bamboo |
Edible |
Fargesia robusta |
– |
Clumping bamboo with shiny deep olive-green leaves |
Edible |
Gigantochloa atter |
Malaysia |
Giant Atter or Sweet Bamboo, |
Good |
G. levis |
Borneo, China, Malaysia |
Evergreen and sympodial bamboo |
Delicious |
G. ligulata |
Malaya, Thailand |
Perennial, evergreen |
Good |
G. nigrociliata |
– |
Black hair giant bamboo, tropical bamboo |
Good |
G. pruriens |
North Sumatra, Indonesia |
Perennial, evergreen, densely clump bamboo |
Good |
G. robusta |
South and South-East Asia |
Giant clumping bamboos |
Good |
G. thoii |
Southern China, Southeast Asia |
Giant clumping bamboo |
Good |
Guadua sarcocarpa |
– |
– |
Good |
Himalayacalamus falconeri |
– |
Gold canes with multiple green stripes |
Good |
Nastus elatus |
– |
Delicately arching foliage |
Edible |
Oxytenanthera abyssinica |
Sub-Saharan Africa |
Drought-resistant specie |
Edible |
Phyllostachys concava |
China |
– |
Edible |
P. incarnata |
Southeast Asia |
– |
Delicious |
P. sulphurea |
– |
Evergreen Bamboo |
Good |
P. angusta |
– |
Stone bamboo |
Edible |
P. arcana |
China |
Can grow up to 8 meters tall |
Edible |
P. atrovaginata |
China, Burma and India |
American Bamboo: Have wax on the surface |
Edible |
P. bambusoides |
China and Japan |
Giant or Japanese timber bamboo |
Bitter |
P. bambusoides f. shouzhu |
– |
– |
Edible |
P. bissetii |
China |
Dark gray-green canes |
Edible |
P. circumpilis |
– |
– |
Edible |
P. decora |
China |
Beautiful bamboo |
Edible |
P. dulcis |
Massachusetts |
Sweet-shoot bamboo: Display cream-colored stripes |
Delicious |
P. edulis |
China and Taiwan |
Moso bamboo, or tortoise-shell bamboo |
Delicious |
P. elegans |
– |
Culms are used as tools |
Delicious |
P. erecta |
– |
– |
Edible |
P. fimbriata |
Mexico to northern Colombia |
Green bamboo |
Edible |
P. fimbriligula |
Hunan and Jiangsu of China |
Upright growth habit |
Delicious |
P. flexuosa |
– |
Spring Beauty |
Delicious |
P. glabrata |
China (Fujian, Zhejiang) |
Woody culms |
Delicious |
P. glauca |
Hunan Province of China |
Remarkable evergreen bamboo |
Good |
P. glauca f. yunzhu |
– |
– |
Edible |
P. glauca var. variabilis |
– |
– |
Edible |
P. heteroclada |
– |
Water Bamboo |
Edible |
P. iridescens |
Middle to eastern China and Japan |
Fastest growing, and strongest bamboos |
Delicious |
P. makinoi |
Southeast China |
Upright timber bamboo |
Edible |
P. meyeri |
Hunan, China |
Evergreen bamboo |
Edible |
P. mirabilis |
– |
– |
Edible |
P. nidularia |
Hunan Province of China |
Tall and erect straight bamboo |
Delicious |
P. nidularia f. farcta |
– |
– |
Edible |
P. nidularia f. mirabilis |
– |
– |
Edible |
P. nidularia f. speciosa |
– |
– |
Edible |
P. nidularia f. sulfurea |
– |
– |
Edible |
P. nigella |
Mediterranean |
Culm-sheath blade triangular |
Delicious |
P. nigra f. henonis |
Hunan Province of China |
Black bamboo |
Delicious |
P. nuda |
Zhejiang in east China |
Geat screening bamboo |
Delicious |
P. nuda ‘Ink-finger’ |
– |
– |
Delicious |
P. parvffolia |
Zhejiang Province of China |
Bamboo with thick culms |
Delicious |
P. pingyangensis |
– |
Forest Organic Sliced Bamboo Shoots |
Edible |
P. platyglossa |
Jiangsu, Zhejiang China |
Thin walled bamboo |
Delicious |
P. praecox |
– |
Running timber bamboo with yellow clums |
Delicious |
P. praecox f. notata |
– |
– |
Edible |
P. praecox f. viridisulcata |
– |
Striped green sulcus |
Delicious |
P. prominens |
China |
Grow around 10 metres tall |
Good |
P. propinqua |
– |
Straight dark green culms |
Good |
P. propinqua f. lanuginosa |
– |
– |
Delicious |
P. purpurata |
Asia |
Super cold hardy bamboo |
Edible |
P. rivalis |
Subtropical climate of southeast China |
– |
Delicious |
P. robustiramea |
|
Distinctive grooves above pair of unequal branches |
Edible |
P. rubella |
Hawaiian |
– |
Edible |
P. rubromarginata |
Central China (Guangxi and Guizhou) |
Red Margin |
Edible |
P. rutila |
– |
– |
Edible |
P. sapida |
Anhui, Gansu, Jiangsu |
Herbarium specimens of bamboo |
Edible |
P. sulphurea f. laqueata |
Anhui, Henan, Jiangxi provinces of China |
|
Good |
P. tianmuensis |
Anhui, Zhejiang (China) |
Swollen culm-nodes |
Edible |
P. viridiglaucescens |
East Asia |
Green glaucous bamboo |
Edible |
P. vivax |
China |
Chinese timber bamboo |
Delicious |
P. vivax ‘Huangwenzhu’ |
China |
Yellow groove vivax and in Chinese called “Huang Wen Zhu”. |
Edible |
P. vivax f. aureocaulis |
– |
– |
Edible |
P. yunhoensis |
Southeast China |
– |
Delicious |
Pleioblastus hindsii |
Japan and East Asia California |
Hardiest bamboo |
Edible |
Sasa kurilensis |
Kurile Islands in Japan |
Northern-growing bamboo |
Good |
Sasaella masamuneana |
Japan |
Sam Bamboo |
Edible |
Thamnocalamus aristatus |
Himalayas |
Clumping Himalayan Bamboo |
Edible |
Thyrsostachys siamensis |
China, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand |
Monastery Bamboo, Thai Bamboo or Umbrella Bamboo |
Good |
Yushania maling |
Nepal to Assam |
Arundinaria maling – graceful open clumper |
Good |