Bamboo

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A bamboo forest in Puerto Rico
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A bamboo forest in Puerto Rico

Bamboo is a name for more than one thousand species of giant grasses. There are about 91 different genera. All bamboos have wood-like stems. Bamboo grows on every continent except Europe and Antarctica. Almost all species of bamboo have hollow stems divided into nodes or joints. Bamboo can grow up to 40 metres tall. The stem can be up to 30cm in diameter. Each of the node has one side bud. Not all of those buds develop into branches, but some do. This makes bamboo one of the few grasses that have a branch structure. Bamboo rarely flowers. Some species only flower once, and then die off.


Bamboo is used to make lots of things and is a construction material. It can be used for scaffolding.


Bamboo shoots are usually cooked before being eaten as some may contain cyanogens. This is not a problem with most temperate bamboos, and most can be eaten without cooking if they are not too bitter. The only Phyllostachys known to have potentially toxic concentrations of cyanogens is Ph. heterocycla pubescens, also known as Ph. edulis and as Moso.

David Farrelly, in his book The Book of Bamboo, says that bamboo has been measured to grow 47.6 inches in a 24-hour period. Most bamboos (used for gardening) will grow more like 3cm to 5cm a day, though.

Bamboo grows in clumps and can be up to 120 feet tall. It mainly grows in America and in Asia. The stems of larger trees are used to build houses, bridges, and other things that have to be constructed such as boat masts, paper, fences, furniture, and wickerwork. In poorer countries, bamboo is an easy construction material that is not too expensive.


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