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               (Water Bamboo)
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               (Black Bamboo)
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               (Tiger Bamboo)
     ● Phyllostachys nigra ‘Henon’
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              (Chinese Timber Bamboo)
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              (Chinese Walking Stick Bamboo)
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Driving directions to Bamboo Valley
              in Albany, Oregon

Phyllostachys nigra ‘Henon’

Other names: "Hachiku" (淡竹), "Giant Gray Bamboo", "Ghost Bamboo", "Bullet Proof Bamboo"

Statistics: Height: 30-60 feet Diameter: 2-4 inches

Henon is very hardy in the Pacific Northwest. It is renowned for its size, strength, and vigor. Some call it “bulletproof bamboo” since very little phases it. It is rewarding to grow. It’s appearance is dark green from a distance, yet up close the canes usually have a powdery white appearance, sometimes even bluish, usually on the older culms. Henon’s leaves are small and almost as delicate looking as Moso. Like P. atrovaginata, groves of Henon often have a delightful grassy smell about them during summertime warm and humid conditions. Its moderately thick culm walls allow it to withstand our winter storms with very little breakage.

Henon is native to Japan where it was historically used for construction and for weaponry. Henon, although not as large as Moso or Vivax when mature, grows as fast as both them. Henon is quite common in Oregon and can be hard to identify unless you can see the hairy shoots in spring or the fuzzy ring around the sheath scar at the nodes. In many places where Henon does not get plenty of water it closely resembles P. bissetii, a generic-looking small, green bamboo.

Here is an interesting theory about its name: Being that Henon is very vigorous and green, (and that all in the species have identical shoots), it is likely that Henon is the "wild type" of this species of bamboo. Therefore it would be more sensible to name it Phyllostachys henon and the other forms like Bory, Megurochiku and Nigra as cultivars of P. henon. What probably happened is that the black form was so exciting (and also quite abundant) that upon "discovery" it was named first. And the name stays P. nigra 'Henon'.

Henon shoots in May	Henon in Portland	Henon in front of a house Eugene.
Henon in as both a tall screen and a short groundcover 12 inches tall--2 views.	Henon at Bamboo Valley	Henon close-up at Bamboo Valley