Pseudosasa japonica, the arrow bamboo[2] or metake,[3] is a species of flowering plant in the grass family Poaceae, native to Japan and Korea. This vigorous bamboo forms thickets up to 6 m (20 ft) tall with shiny leaves up to 25 cm (9.8 in) long.[3] The culms are typically yellow-brown and it has palm-like leaves. The common name "arrow bamboo" results from the Japanese Samurai using its hard and stiff canes for their arrows.[5] It grows up to 4 cm (1.6 in) a day.[citation needed]
Cultivation
This cold hardy bamboo species (tolerant to 0 °F/−17.7 °C) grows well both in shade and full sun. Pseudosasa japonica does very well in containers and salty air near the ocean. Because it tends to be more shade tolerant than other bamboo species it is often used by gardeners as an understory to a tree-lined living fence.[5] In cultivation in the UK this species has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.[3][6]
Ohrnberger, D. (1999). The Bamboos of the World: Annotated Nomenclature and Literature of the Species and the Higher and Lower Taxa. Amsterdam: Elsevier. ISBN978-0-444-50020-5.
Huxley, Anthony; Griffith, Mark; Levy, Margot, eds. (1992). The New Royal Horticultural Society Dictionary of Gardening. Vol. 1–4. London: Macmillan Publishers. ISBN978-0-333-47494-5.
Encke, Fritz; Buchheim, Günther; Seybold, Siegmund (1984). Zander: Handwörterbuch der Pflanzennamen (in German) (13th ed.). Stuttgart: Eugen Ulmer. ISBN978-3-8001-5042-7.
Ohwi, Jisaburo (1965). Meyer, Frederick G.; Walker, Egbert H. (eds.). Flora of Japan (English ed.). Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution. OCLC1123305909.
Chung, Tai Hyun (1965). Illustrated Encyclopedia of Fauna & Flora of Korea, Vol. 5, Tracheophyta (in Korean). Seoul: Samhwa Ch'ulp'an Sa. OCLC836718523.
