Bamboo Plants
Bamboo plants are among the world’s most useful and versatile plants. Distinguishing it from trees and other plant life, it has an average growth rate of two inches every hour. This makes it the world’s fastest growing plant.
Unlike many would believe, bamboo plants are not trees. They fall into the grass category. These grasses fall into 91 different genera, with over 1,000 species currently known. As different species can be used for different things, this variety helps to ensure the lasting survival of a bamboo plant.
This fast growing rate makes bamboo plants invaluable in eastern regions such as India, China and Japan. As the bamboo plants are used as food, wood and fuel, the fast growing rate makes this renewable resource a cornerstone of those societies. Bamboo, when properly treated, can be extremely durable and long lasting, it provides an easy solution to many problems.
One of the most common uses of bamboo plants, is it’s cultivation as a wood product. Because of it’s accelerated growth rate and durable qualities, bamboo is often used as a wood based product for both the interior and exterior of many homes, this offers endless possibilities for architects and interior designers. Other uses of bamboo wood include tools such as durable cutting boards, chop sticks, tables and other pieces of furniture as well as, kitchen or household accessories.
They are several species in the bamboo family that provide us with a food source. It is important to note, that not all species of bamboo shoots can be ingested. For example, the giant bamboo plant contain cyanide within its shoots. Cyanide can be lethal to humans.
Many types of animals survive by eating bamboo. The giant panda has a strict diet consisting only of bamboo leaves and stalks.
Bamboo is one of the most valuable resources we have today, however, there have been some challenges to cultivating it. In South Asia, there are several factors bamboo farmers have to confront and one of which is the massive blooming season. In certain regions, such as the Bay of Bengal, the flowering and fruiting seasons only come once every few decades. This mass blooming and fruiting cases severe consequences to human populations nearby. As the fruit falls to the ground, rats swarm. As the rats swarm, they bring disease with them and cause famine. This can lead to many human deaths, as there is little that can be done to stop the spread of disease once it has begun. With the increased technology of today’s society, solutions to the infestation and disease problems are being addressed, in a manner that will preserve the bamboo plant during its fruiting season.
Bamboo is a versatile plant and can grow in many regions across the world. Some of the main bamboo resources are cultivated in East Asia, South America and in some African regions. When people think of Bamboo, they most often think of it as the stuff panda bears eat, however, you can now see that it is used extensively as building materials and certain bamboo plants offer a good source of food.