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Bambou pleureur mexicain (Otatea acuminata) - Jardin botanique Val Rahmeh-Menton © MNHN - Agnès Iatzoura
Bambou pleureur mexicain (Otatea acuminata) - Jardin botanique Val Rahmeh-Menton © MNHN - Agnès Iatzoura

Mexican weeping bamboo

Its very fine foliage gives this bamboo, which is native to Central America, an elegant look. It has the advantage of growing “in tufts” and therefore has less of a creeping nature. However, it requires warmth to be able to grow outside.

Identity Card

Common name
Bambou pleureur mexicain
Binominal name
Otatea acuminata (Munro) C.E. Calderon & Soderstr.

Taxonomy

Kingdom
Plantae
Family
Poaceae
Synonym
Arundinaria acuminata Munro

Detailed Informations

Area of origin
Mexico, Central America

Etymology

Otatea is the latinised form of word “otate” (Nahuatl Amerindian language) meaning bamboos. Acuminata means “pointed” in Latin.

Description and flowering period

It is a densely clumping bamboo reaching 2 to 5 meters high. Its numerous slender culms (botanical term for grasses and sedges’ stalks) bear long and narrow pale green leaves. The weight of the foliage is responsible for the culms’ arching habit which is where the name weeping bamboo comes from.

Habitat

It requires a free-draining soil in full sun or part-shade. The species is drought tolerant but cannot endure extended periods of cold weather nor frosts.

Uses

Ornamental.

Translated by: François Saint-Hillier – MNHN

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