Bamboo

For other uses, see Bamboo (disambiguation).

Bamboo
Temporal range: 55–0 Ma Early Eocene – Present
Bamboo forest in Hunan, China
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Clade: Commelinids
Order: Poales
Family: Poaceae
Clade: BOP clade
Subfamily: Bambusoideae
Luerss.
Tribes
Diversity[1]
>1,462 (known species) species in 115 genera
Synonyms[2]

Bamboos are a diverse group of mostly evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae.[3][4][5] Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family, in the case of Dendrocalamus sinicus having individual stalks (culms) reaching a length of 46 meters (151 ft), up to 36 centimeters (14 in) in thickness and a weight of up to 450 kilograms (1,000 lb).[6] The internodes of bamboos can also be of great length. Kinabaluchloa wrayi has internodes up to 2.5 meters (8 ft) in length.[7] and Arthrostylidium schomburgkii has internodes up to 5 meters (16 ft) in length,[8] exceeded in length only by papyrus. By contrast, the stalks of the tiny bamboo Raddiella vanessiae of the savannas of French Guiana measure only 10–20 millimeters (0.4–0.8 in) in length by about 2 millimeters (0.08 in) in width.[9] The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, but it probably comes from the Dutch or Portuguese language, which originally borrowed it from Malay or Kannada.[5][10][11]

In bamboo, as in other grasses, the internodal regions of the stem are usually hollow and the vascular bundles in the cross-section are scattered throughout the walls of the stalk instead of in a cylindrical cambium layer between the bark (phloem) and the wood (xylem) as in dicots and conifers. The dicotyledonous woody xylem is also absent. The absence of secondary growth wood causes the stems of monocots, including the palms and large bamboos, to be columnar rather than tapering.[12]

Bamboos include some of the fastest-growing plants in the world,[13] due to a unique rhizome-dependent system. Certain species of bamboo can grow 91 centimeters (36 inches) within a 24-hour period, at a rate of almost 40 millimeters (1+1⁄2 in) an hour (equivalent to 1 mm (0.04 in) every 90 seconds).[14] Growth up to 120 centimeters (47.2 in) in 24 hours has been observed in the instance of Japanese giant timber bamboo (Phyllostachys bambusoides).[15] This rapid growth and tolerance for marginal land, make bamboo a good candidate for afforestation, carbon sequestration and climate change mitigation.[16][17][18]

Bamboo is versatile and has notable economic and cultural significance in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and East Asia, being used for building materials, as a food source, and as a raw product, and depicted often in arts, such as in bamboo paintings and bambooworking. Bamboo, like wood, is a natural composite material with a high strength-to-weight ratio useful for structures.[19] Bamboo's strength-to-weight ratio is similar to timber, and its strength is generally similar to a strong softwood or hardwood timber.[20][21] Some bamboo species have displayed remarkable strength under test conditions. Bambusa tulda of Bangladesh and adjoining India has tested as high as 60,000 psi (400 MPa) in tensile strength.[22] Other bamboo species make extraordinarily hard material. Bambusa tabacaria of China contains so much silica that it will make sparks when struck by an axe.[23]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Kelchner2013 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Soreng, Robert J.; Peterson, Paul M.; Romaschenko, Konstantin; Davidse, Gerrit; Zuloaga, Fernando O.; Judziewicz, Emmet J.; Filgueiras, Tarciso S.; Davis, Jerrold I.; Morrone, Osvaldo (2015). "A worldwide phylogenetic classification of the Poaceae (Gramineae)". Journal of Systematics and Evolution. 53 (2): 117–137. doi:10.1111/jse.12150. hdl:11336/25248. ISSN 1674-4918. S2CID 84052108. Open access icon
  3. ^ McClure, F. A. (1 October 2013), "The Bamboos: A Fresh Perspective", The Bamboos, Harvard University Press, doi:10.4159/harvard.9780674428713, ISBN 978-0-674-42871-3, retrieved 29 August 2023
  4. ^ Canavan, Susan; Richardson, David M.; Visser, Vernon; Roux, Johannes J. Le; Vorontsova, Maria S.; Wilson, John R. U. (23 December 2016). "The global distribution of bamboos: assessing correlates of introduction and invasion". AoB Plants. 9 (1): plw078. doi:10.1093/aobpla/plw078. ISSN 2041-2851. PMC 5499700. PMID 28013249.
  5. ^ a b Ayer, Santosh; Timilsina, Sachin; Aryal, Anisha; Acharya, Amul Kumar; Neupane, Asmit; Bhatta, Kishor Prasad (1 August 2023). "Bamboo forests in Nepal: Status, distribution, research trends and contribution to local livelihoods". Advances in Bamboo Science. 4: 100027. Bibcode:2023AdBS....400027A. doi:10.1016/j.bamboo.2023.100027. ISSN 2773-1391. S2CID 259134632.
  6. ^ "World's Biggest Bamboo Plant Found in Southwest China". Forest Conservation Portal. 28 August 2003. Archived from the original on 10 November 2003. Retrieved 4 April 2004.
  7. ^ <anonymous> (n.d.). "Bamboos of Thailand - Kinabaluchloa wrayi". Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  8. ^ Schombergk, Sir Robert H. (1841). "Some Accounts of the Curata....etc". Trans. Linnean Soc. London. 18 (<not stated>): 559–560.
  9. ^ Judziewicz, Emmit J.; Sepsenwol, Sol (2007). "The World's Smallest Bamboo: Raddiella Vanessiae (Poaceae: Bambusoideae: Olyreae), a New Species from French Guiana". Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas. 1 (1): 1–7.
  10. ^ Kelchner, Scot A. (1 May 2013). "Higher level phylogenetic relationships within the bamboos (Poaceae: Bambusoideae) based on five plastid markers". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 67 (2): 404–413. Bibcode:2013MolPE..67..404K. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2013.02.005. ISSN 1055-7903. PMID 23454093.
  11. ^ "bamboo". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  12. ^ Wilson, C.L. & Loomis, W.E. Botany (3rd ed.). Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
  13. ^ Farrelly, David (1984). The Book of Bamboo. Sierra Club Books. ISBN 978-0-87156-825-0.
  14. ^ "Fastest growing plant". Guinness World Records. Archived from the original on 3 September 2014. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
  15. ^ Austin, Robert; Ueda, Koishiro (1970). Bamboo. New York: Walker/Weatherhill. p. 193.
  16. ^ Singh, Lal; Sridharan, Srinidhi; Thul, Sanjog T.; Kokate, Piyush; Kumar, Phani; Kumar, Sunil; Kumar, Rakesh (1 November 2020). "Eco-rejuvenation of degraded land by microbe assisted bamboo plantation". Industrial Crops and Products. 155: 112795. doi:10.1016/j.indcrop.2020.112795. ISSN 0926-6690. S2CID 225025086.
  17. ^ Masisi, Bhoke; Zabel, Astrid; Blaser, Jürgen; Augustino, Suzana (1 December 2022). "Fighting climate change with bamboo in Africa: The case of Kyela, Rungwe and Mufindi districts – Tanzania". Advances in Bamboo Science. 1: 100009. Bibcode:2022AdBS....100009M. doi:10.1016/j.bamboo.2022.100009. ISSN 2773-1391. S2CID 253535691.
  18. ^ Kumar, Raushan; Thangaraju, Mohan Manu; Kumar, Manoj; Thul, Sanjog Tarachand; Pandey, Vimal Chandra; Yadav, Swati; Singh, Lal; Kumar, Sunil (1 July 2021). "Ecological restoration of coal fly ash–dumped area through bamboo plantation". Environmental Science and Pollution Research. 28 (25): 33416–33432. Bibcode:2021ESPR...2833416K. doi:10.1007/s11356-021-12995-7. ISSN 1614-7499. PMID 33641101. S2CID 232067180.
  19. ^ Cite error: The named reference Lakkad was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  20. ^ Kaminski, S.; Lawrence, A.; Trujillo, D. (2016). "Structural use of bamboo. Part 1: Introduction to bamboo" (PDF). The Structural Engineer. 94 (8): 40–43. doi:10.56330/PNSC8891.
  21. ^ Kaminski, S.; Lawrence, A.; Trujillo, D.; Feltham, I.; Felipe López, L. (2016). "Structural use of bamboo. Part 3: Design values" (PDF). The Structural Engineer. 94 (12): 42–45. doi:10.56330/JCLL5610.
  22. ^ McClure, Floyd A. (1948). 1948 Yearbook of Agriculture - Grasses. Washington, D.C.: United States Department of Agriculture. p. 738.
  23. ^ Farrelly, David (1984). The Book of Bamboo. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books. p. 143.