Seventeen genera of bamboos native to the New World are classified, compared, and illustrated, including four new genera and four new species. The introduction of several taxonomic characters based on hitherto neglected morphological features, both vegetative and reproductive, is undertaken with the objective of improving traditional perspectives. Two reforms are urged as essential to the elevation of the level of refinement at which future taxonomic treatments of bamboos may be executed. These are (1) the general adoption of improved collecting methods correlated with more extensive and sustained field observations, and (2) the fostering, through interdisciplinary collaboration, of progressive development and integration of diversified studies of documented materials drawn from a common source for each individual taxon.