Yes, bamboo is a grass. Like all true grasses, it's a member of the Poaceae family (Graminea). The big difference between bamboo and most other grasses is that the stem (or culm) contains a lot of silica, making it stiff and tough enough to build bridges (at least a couple of genera are).
There are over seventy genera and between seven hundred and a thousand species of this most versatile of grasses. Some are dwarf and delicate and some reach over one hundred feet (30.48m) tall and five or six inches (12.70 - 15.24cm) in diameter. The culms display a variety of colors from gold to black, some with stripes. Foliage can vary from narrow to wide to feathery in various shades of green and gold. One that I covet for its pseudo variegation is Sasa veitschei "Kuma Bamboo". Its leaves aren't really variegated, they lose their chlorophyll with the onset of cold weather...but they look variegated.
Most bamboo come from warm climates, but a surprising number are hardy to USDA zone 7 and some to zones 5 and 6. Many prefer shade or part shade. Some of the non-hardy types can be grown in containers indoors. Beyond the somewhat confused and confusing botanical classifications, bamboo are either clumpers or runners. Running bamboo does exactly that once it settles in; some more so that others. Clumping bamboo is better behaved although it will expand in diameter. Most of the clumpers, however, are the less hardy varieties. Many bamboo have edible shoots. I think mine is amongst this lot, although I've never tried harvesting or eating the young culms...maybe this year.
I don't so much "grow" my bamboo, which I believe is Phyllostachys aureosulcata, as do constant battle with it to keep it somewhat in bounds. Running bamboo requires major restraint if it isn't to take over the world. Mine came from a house I rented nearly thirty years ago. When I left, I brought a few bits of root with me. It was slow to get going, but once it did it just goes from strength to strength. It's evergreen in my USDA z. 7 garden, although severe winters will brown the leaves so it looks pretty tatty until a new set comes out. I do nothing to encourage it; no extra food or water other than what it gleans from the plants I try to grow in front of it.
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