Hill cane facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Hill cane |
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|---|---|
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Arundinaria
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| Species: |
appalachiana
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Arundinaria appalachiana, often called hill cane, is a type of woody bamboo. It grows naturally in the Appalachian Mountains in the southeastern United States.
Scientists decided it was its own species in 2006. Before that, they thought it was just a type of Arundinaria tecta. Hill cane is quite small for a bamboo. It usually grows to be about 0.5 to 1 meter (1.6 to 3.3 feet) tall. It can grow in thick clumps or spread out more. It is one of only three types of bamboo that grow naturally in North America's cooler climates.
You can often find hill cane on dry or somewhat moist slopes, bluffs, and ridges. It likes to grow in oak-hickory forests. Its relatives, Arundinaria gigantea, usually grow near streams. A. tecta is found in swamps and very wet places.
How Hill Cane Was Named and Classified
For a long time, scientists weren't sure how to classify the bamboos of eastern North America. In 1788, two species were first described. But over time, because these bamboos looked so different, scientists had many ideas about how to group them.
In 1914, a scientist named C.D. Beadle first noticed hill cane. He called it Arundinaria tecta var. decidua because its leaves fell off. Beadle and many other botanists thought hill cane might be a separate species.
By the late 1900s, it became clear that hill cane was different from A. tecta and A. gigantea. Scientists used genetic analysis to study the plants. This study showed that each of the three types of cane is a distinct group. This strongly supported the idea that they are three separate species. Studying their physical features also helped confirm this decision.
What Hill Cane Looks Like
Arundinaria appalachiana is the smallest bamboo in its group. Its main stems, called culms, are usually 0.5 to 1 meter (1.6 to 3.3 feet) tall. Sometimes they can reach up to 1.8 meters (5.9 feet). These stems are also quite thin, about 0.2 to 0.6 centimeters (0.08 to 0.24 inches) wide.
Like all bamboos, the culms grow from underground stems called rhizomes. For hill cane, these rhizomes spread out horizontally. But they usually don't go very far before turning upwards to form a new culm. The rhizomes can sometimes be hollow inside. The culms have smooth, cylindrical sections called internodes. The leaf coverings at the base of the culms, called sheaths, usually stay on the plant. These sheaths are 5.5 to 11 centimeters (2.2 to 4.3 inches) long. They have very short bristles where the sheath meets the leaf blade. The small leaf blades at the top of the sheaths are 0.8 to 1.4 centimeters (0.3 to 0.55 inches) long.
Each new culm of Arundinaria has a fan-shaped group of leaves at the top. This is called a top knot. In hill cane, these top knots have 6 to 12 leaves. These leaves are 9 to 22.5 centimeters (3.5 to 8.9 inches) long and 1.4 to 2.8 centimeters (0.55 to 1.1 inches) wide. They can be long and narrow, lance-shaped, or a mix of both.
The main branches grow straight up and are usually no longer than 35 centimeters (14 inches). The leaves that grow on the plant are deciduous, meaning they fall off. These leaf blades are typically 5 to 20 centimeters (2 to 7.9 inches) long and 0.8 to 2 centimeters (0.3 to 0.8 inches) wide. Their bases are rounded, and they feel like paper. The undersides of the leaves can have fine, soft hairs or be hairless. The upper sides always have fine hairs.
The flowers of hill cane grow in small clusters called spikelets. These spikelets are 3 to 5.5 centimeters (1.2 to 2.2 inches) long. They are usually a light reddish-purple color. Each spikelet has 5 to 8 tiny flowers called florets. We don't know much about how often hill cane flowers. During the research for describing this species, scientists found only one flowering plant. While flowering is rare in most bamboos, it seems to be even less common for hill cane.
Where Hill Cane Grows
Arundinaria appalachiana is found in the southern Appalachian Mountains. It also grows in the upper Piedmont region of the southeastern US. This includes western Carolinas, southeastern Tennessee, northern Georgia, and northeastern Alabama.
It typically grows at elevations from 300 to 800 meters (980 to 2,620 feet) above sea level. Sometimes it can be found as high as 1065 meters (3,494 feet). Its favorite places are dry to somewhat moist upland slopes. But you might also find it in slightly wetter soils, near small springs, or along tiny streams.
