Sasa (plant)


Sasa is a genus of bamboo and part of the grass family. Sasa are characterized as being dwarf species of bamboo, typically under 2m in height, producing many thin culms from a highly branched and running root stock with only one branch per node. For their size, they have relatively large, wide leaves leading to the common name broadleaf bamboo.
All species are native to Asia, with the majority are native to Japan. Some species of Sasa have the northern-most distribution of any bamboo species and are native to Sakhalin in the Russian Far East and the nearby Kuril islands. The genus name Sasa is derived from the Japanese name sasa meaning bamboo grass, used to distinguish Sasa from taller bamboo in Japan.

Description

Sasa is a genus of relatively short and shrub-like bamboos that may vigorously spread to form dense, often extensive stands. The rhizomes of Sasa species are leptomorph, with long, running and much branched underground roots. Their culms are tillering, and may grow between 30 cm to 3 m in height, and up to 1 cm in diameter depending on the species. The nodes along culms are prominent in most species but are sometimes level and smooth and without grooves. At the nodes, a single branch is formed, often about the same diameter as the culm. The culm sheaths are papery or even leathery and are very persistent, usually remaining attached to the culm unless removed. The leaves form a palmate arrangement and are generally large compared to most bamboos, in both length and width, and the leaves are very large compared with the size of the culms.
When flowering, the inflorescence is typically in form of a loose panicle containing 4 to 8 florets per spikelet, and 6 stamens and 3 stigmas per floret.
The genus Sasa was first formally described by the Japanese botanists Tomitaro Makito and Keita Shibata, when it published in Botanical Magazine in 1901.

Distribution and habitat

The genus Sasa is native to Asia, with the native distribution of the genus extending from Sakhalin and the Kuril islands of Russia to the north, southwards through Japan and Korea, and across the southeast region of China including Guangxi, Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Hainan.
Sasa along with the closely related genus Sasamorpha contain the only species of bamboo native to Russia, with the Sasa species S. cernua, S. kurilensis, S. megaphylla, and ''S. senanensis found the furthest north of any species of bamboo with all the aforementioned species being native to Sakhalin and/or the Kuril islands of the Russian Far East.
The majority of Sasa species are only native to Japan and are primarily found in the temperate biome; however, some species, such as Sasa chartacea, native to Hokkaido and Honshu in Japan grow primarily in the subalpine or subarctic biome; whilst a few others, such as Sasa hainanensis, native to Hainan, China grow primarily in the subtropical biome.
In Japan, Sasa species are estimated to cover an land area of about 50% in mountainous regions, with such regions making up about 250,000 km2 or 70% of the whole land area of the country. In Hallasan National Park in Jeju island, South Korea, Sasa palmata'' covers approximately 76% of the northern slopes of Hallasan, the highest mountain in the country.

Naming

Other than binomial names, in Japan bamboo is also named and classified into traditional groups based on multiple factors other than botany. The genus name Sasa is derived from the Japanese term zasa traditionally used to categorize and name some dwarf bamboos. In scientific or academic usage, the Japanese word for all bamboo is tāke, but when used in other contexts, tāke is used to refer to tall growing types of bamboo, with mosochiku , madake, and hachiku being popular examples in Japan. In contrast, zasa or sasa meaning 'bamboo grass' is used to refer to short growing species.
The use of zasa or sasa is not only seen in discussing a category of bamboos, but is also a part of traditional Japanese names for most Sasa species, for example Sasa kurilensis is known as chishima zasa, Sasa palmata is known as chimaki zasa, Sasa veitchii is known as kumazasa.
As the Japanese classification of zasa/sasa or 'bamboo grass' does not strictly follow botanical classification, genera other than Sasa with a similar habit are also considered to be zasa/sasa, with Japanese names reflecting this, for example Pleioblastus viridistriatus is known as kamuro zasa; Shibataea kumasaca, known as okame zasa ; and Sasaella ramosa'' called azuma zasa.

Species

As of February 2025, Plants of the World Online recognize the genus Sasa to contain 39 accepted species; whilst World Flora Online recognize 42 accepted species.
Amongst plant names, the genus Sasa contains a large number of synonyms; as of February 2025, WFO recognizes 727 names as synonyms at all ranks, and 440 species names as synonyms.
The following is a list containing a selection of Sasa species as accepted by authorities at Kew/POWO in May 2025 and their native distributions:
  • Sasa cernua Makino – Japan ; Russia
  • Sasa chartacea Makino & Shibata – Japan
  • Sasa elegantissima Koidz. – Japan
  • Sasa fugeshiensis Koidz. – Japan
  • Sasa gracillima Nakai – Japan
  • Sasa hainanensis C.D.Chu & C.S.Chao – China
  • Sasa hayatae Makino – Japan
  • Sasa heterotricha Koidz. – Japan
  • Sasa hibaconuca – northern and central Japan
  • Sasa jotanii M.Kobay. – Japan
  • Sasa kagamiana Makino & Uchida – Japan
  • Sasa kurilensis Makino & Shibata – Korea, Russia to Japan
  • Sasa magnifica Sad.Suzuki – Japan
  • Sasa megalophylla Makino & Uchida – Japan; Russia
  • Sasa miakeana Sad.Suzuki – Japan
  • Sasa minensis Sad.Suzuki – Japan
  • Sasa nipponica Makino & Shibata – Japan
  • Sasa occidentalis Sad.Suzuki – Japan
  • Sasa palmata E.G.Camus – Korea, Japan, Russia
  • Sasa pubens – Japan
  • Sasa pubiculmis – Japan
  • Sasa pulcherrima – central and southern Japan
  • Sasa rubrovaginata – China
  • Sasa samaniana – Japan
  • Sasa scytophylla – Japan
  • Sasa senanensis Rehder – Japan ; Russia
  • Sasa septentrionalis – southern Sakhalin and northern and central Japan
  • Sasa shimidzuana – central and southern Japan
  • Sasa subglabra – China
  • Sasa subvillosa – Japan
  • Sasa suzukii – Japan
  • Sasa takizawana – Japan
  • Sasa tatewakiana – Sakhalin and northern and central Japan
  • Sasa tenuifolia – Japan
  • Sasa tokugawana – central and southern Japan
  • Sasa tsuboiana Makino – Korea ; Japan
  • Sasa tsukubensis – Japan
  • Sasa veitchii Rehder – Japan ; Russia
  • Sasa yahikoensis – Sakhalin to northern and central Japan
The genus Sasaella derives from the hybridization of species of Sasa and Pleioblastus.''

Uses

Culinary use

Various species of Sasa have a long history of culinary use.
The young shoots of some Sasa species are edible. Sansai traditionally refers to vegetables that have grown in the wild and then foraged by humans, as opposed to being cultivated or farmed. Young culms of Sasa kurilensis are known in Japan as chishima-zasa or nemagaridake and are particularly popular in Hokkaido and other parts of northern Japan.
Not only are the shoots eaten, but Sasa leaves are used widely in Japan as wrapper to hold rice dumplings or rice cake together, whilst imparting a subtle hint of bamboo flavor to the rice.
Sasazushi, also known as bamboo leaf sushi, is a speciality from the Hokuriku region of Japan, in particular Niigata and the cities of Jōetsu, Itoigawa and Myōkō. Sasazushi is made by placing rice onto a Sasa bamboo leaf that grows wild in the region before being topped with a selection of ingredients and condiments. Not only is the bamboo leaf a local, wild plant, other types of sansai are frequently used as toppings, such as Japanese butterbur, fiddleheads of bracken fern, and other types of fern including zenmai and kogomi.File:Sasadango1.jpg|thumb|241x241px|Sasadango is a speciality of Niigata and surrounding regions. It is a sweet rice cake filled with anko and flavored with yomogi before being wrapped in Sasa bamboo leaves and tied up with sedge
Chimaki are a type of dumpling from Japan, very similar to the Chinese dumpling zonghi but with different fillings. Chimaki usually consist of a mixture of glutinous rice and other ingredients which are carefully wrapped in a Sasa bamboo leaf and usually tied with rushes before steaming. Chimaki may be savory, composed of rice, meat and vegetables, or sweet, containing sticky glutinous rice, yokan, or kudzu. Chimaki are particularly associated with Akita, Niigata, Yamagata, and the Aizu region of Fukushima Prefecture, with unique local variations. In Akita, sasamaki is prepared in a comparable way but consists of only glutinous rice wrapped in Sasa leaves, tied with rushes, and steamed reflecting a time when glutinous rice was less abundant and more expensive than Uruchi rice, so it has long been used as a celebratory food.
The desert delicacy sasadango a type of dango originally from the Chuetsu and Shimoetsu regions of Niigata and parts of Aizu region, Fukushima Prefecture. Sweet, glutinous rice flour is flavored with yomogi which are then filled with adzuki bean paste and wrapped in Sasa leaves and tied up with sedge leaves.