Chusquea
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 Chusquea quila, inflorescence
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Chusquea is a genus of bamboo with about 120 species. Most of them are mountain clumping bamboos native from southern Mexico to southern Chile and Argentina. They are sometimes referred to as South American mountain bamboos. Unlike most other bamboos, the stems of these species are solid, not hollow.
[edit] Species
Chusquea culeou, the Colihue cane, from southern Chile and adjacent western Argentina, is notable as the most frost-tolerant South American bamboo and the only one that has been grown successfully to any extent in the temperate northern hemisphere, with successful growth as an ornamental plant north to Scotland. The Colihue cane was used be the Mapuches indians to make instruments and as lances during the War of Arauco.
Chusquea quila (in Spanish Quila), in contrast to Colihue, has a spreading or vining growth. It prefers wet places and does not grow above 500 m, where C. coleou becomes more dominant. Chusquea quila can form pure stands called Quilantales. Very few plants can grow under this species.
[edit] Taxonomy
The genus includes:
- Dendragrostis Jackson
- Rettbergia Raddi
The genus excludes:
- Swallenochloa
