Mr Whippy wrote:
So I can safely assume it's not P. Nigra then........
That would explain a few things. Thanks again for the reply.

I'll have a read up on Fargesia nitida then and see if that looks like
the culprit.

Hmmm... F. nitida doesn't get black like that. But Ph. nigra doesn't
either. It is clearly a bamboo that I have no experience with. There
are some tropical bamboos that get black. Perhaps it is one of them.

Do you have cold winters? If so, how does it handle them?