The presence of woody bamboos in Argentine archaeological sites led to attempts to identify them. In general, fragments of culm are recovered with nodes, internodes (or parts of them) and occasionally nodes with buds or their vestiges, but without leaves. Epidermal studies were carried out on developed culms of several bamboo genera growing currently in Argentina and neighbouring areas, with the purpose of detecting characters of taxonomic value that will allow identification at generic or species level. The selected characters did indeed facilitate the determination of the archaeological material. Fifteen species of six native genera from America were studied: Aulonemia Goudot, Colanthelia McClure & E. W Smith, Chusquea Kunth, Guadua Kunth, Merostachys Spreng. and Rhipidocladum McClure. Epidermal cauline anatomy was described and illustrated using scanning electron and light microscopes. An identification key based on cauline epidermis is presented. (C) 2002 The Linnean Society of London.