Bamboo

Bamboo grows most abundantly in southeastern Asia where it has hundreds of practical applications, such as in construction and decoration and as paper or food. The plant's stems, called culms, consist of hollow sections called internodes which are interrupted by regularly spaced nodes, giving bamboo its jointed appearance.

Bamboo is the common name for about 45 genera and about 480 species of perennial, woody, usually shrubby or treelike plants of the grass family. Bamboos occur mostly in tropical and subtropical areas, from sea level to snow-capped mountain peaks, with a few species reaching into temperate areas. They are most abundant in southeastern Asia, with some species in the Americas and Africa and none in Australia. The plants range from stiff reeds about 1 m (about 3 ft) tall to giants reaching 50 m (164 ft) in height and 30 cm (12 in) in diameter near the base. Most bamboos are erect, but some are viny, producing impenetrable thickets in some areas.

STRUCTURE AND CHARACTERISTICS

Bamboos are easily recognized by their woody, jointed stems, called culms. The culms consist of hollow sections called internodes, which are interrupted by regularly spaced solid partitions called nodes. At each node a sheath protects a bud, which may develop into either a branch or an inflorescence (flower cluster). Bamboo stems develop from horizontal, underground rhizomes (thickened plant stems). The tips of new shoots are protected by overlapping scales, which are shed as the internodes elongate. Initially, new shoots grow slowly, but the growth rate increases rapidly and may reach nearly 60 cm (24 in) per day in some gigantic tropical species. The main shoot does not bear leaves and usually does not produce branches until it is fully elongated. Branches grow from the buds present at each node, and branches may themselves produce secondary or even tertiary branches. It is on these ultimate branches that bamboos produce their usually linear, flat, and many-veined leaves.

The culms of bamboos are green because they contain abundant chlorophyll in the tissue immediately below the surface. Thus, the culms serve as a major photosynthetic surface, especially because they elongate before the leaves themselves develop.

The floral structure of bamboos is basically that of the grass family. Because of details in the flowers, however, bamboos are considered primitive among the grasses. That is, the bamboos typically have three lodicules (scales at the base of an ovary), six stamens, and three stigmas (the germination areas of the pistil), rather than the two lodicules, three stamens, and two stigmas typical of most grasses. In addition, although many bamboos flower annually, many others flower only at intervals of 10 to 100 years. All members of a particular species flower at the same time, and the plants die shortly after flowering and setting their seed. The individual species are perpetuated by the seed or by new culms sprouted from rhizomes.

USES

Bamboos are among the plants most widely used by humans. In the tropics they are used for constructing houses, rafts, bridges, and scaffolding. Split and flattened culms can be used as flooring and interwoven to make baskets, mats, hats, fish traps, and other articles; culms of large species may be used as containers for liquids. Paper is made from bamboo pulp, and fishing rods, water pipes, musical instruments, and chopsticks from other parts. Many bamboos are planted as ornamentals, and young shoots are eaten as a vegetable. The grain is also a food..

Contributed By: Marshall R. Crosby