Black bamboo, like many bamboo species, has a monocarpic lifecycle, meaning it flowers only once in its lifetime and then dies. The flowering cycle for black bamboo is typically very long, often ranging from 60 to 120 years.
In essence, the entire worldwide species flowers simultaneously and then, following this major event, they all die—a phenomenon known as ‘monocarpic death’.
The last occurrence for Phyllostachys nigra was in 1908, which makes what we are witnessing this week a bit special!
And we have been lucky enough to witness this flowering at a bamboo excavation project we are currently working on in the Midlands!
We’ve observed the flowering spikes and the general decline of the plant as it seeds, so we thought we would share some photographs of the event with you.
What impact will this have for gardeners and horticulturists across the UK? The flowering and subsequent die-off of black bamboo can be a significant concern. It results in the loss of established plants and necessitates starting anew from seeds or seedlings.
While the seeds produced after flowering can generate new bamboo plants, it takes many years for these new plants to reach maturity.
