Bamboo

Bamboo is the common name for about 45 genera and about 480 species of perennial, woody, usually shrubby or treelike plants constituting part of the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. 

 

Most bamboo species are native to warm and moist tropical and to warm temperate climates. They are most abundant in southeastern Asia, with some species in the Americas and Africa. 

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. 

Most bamboo species flower infrequently. In fact, many bamboos only blossom at intervals as long as 65 or 120 years.. When one variety buds, the entire variety buds at the same time around the world, for reasons scientists have yet to discern.

Bamboos include some of the fastest-growing plants in the world, due to a unique rhizome-dependent system.  Certain species of bamboo can grow 889 mm (35 in) in a day, at a rate of over 37 mm (1+1⁄2 in) an hour.

Bamboos are among the plants most widely used by humans. Like wood, it  is a natural composite material with a high strength-to-weight ratio useful for structures. Bamboo's strength-to-weight ratio is similar to timber, and its strength is generally similar to a strong softwood or hardwood timber. In the Tropics they are used for constructing houses, scaffolding, bridges, and rafts. 

Split and flattened culms can be used as flooring and interwoven to make baskets, fish traps, hats, mats and other articles; culms of large species may be used as containers for liquids.

Soft bamboo shoots, stems and leaves are almost the only food of giant pandas. 

The shoots can also be used as human food. Bamboo shoots are usually cooked before being eaten. Most temperate bamboos can be eaten without cooking if they are not too bitter.

The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, but it probably comes from the Dutch or Portuguese language, which originally borrowed it from Kannada or Malay.

A pricing dispute over bamboo poles led to The Dungan Revolt a war in China between 1862 and 1877 that killed 21 million people.

The first commercially viable light bulb, patented by Thomas Edison in 1880, used a filament made from bamboo.

Bamboo was the first plant to grow back after the Hiroshima bomb devastation.

Source Funk & Wagnalls Encyclopedia