Like all bamboo, black bamboo is a grass. The black stems are exceptionally
beautiful in the winter garden. Black bamboo is best grown in well drained soil
in a protected location that is sunny or lightly shaded. Black bamboo may grow as
tall as 30 feet but tends to be shorter in the Washington, DC area because it is near
the northern limit of its hardiness. It can be grown in USDA hardiness zone 7.
You can see black bamboo in the Asian Collections.