Bamboo The Giant Grass

Some bamboo can grow 120' high.

       Did you know that if you lived in China, Japan, or Ceylon you could plant a certain kind of grass and from it obtain food, a house, a sailing boat, furniture, buckets, fishing poles, or almost anything you could use in everyday life? Even more astonishing is the fact that, if weather conditions were ideal and the amount of rainfall were sufficient, you could have all this in just about ninety days! Perhaps this sounds fantastic to you but, nevertheless, it is true. The giant of the grasses, bamboo, does all this and even more.

       Bamboo is native to Asia, Africa, and North, Central, and South America. In Asia alone there are approximately five hundred different kinds of bamboo. Bamboo grows well anywhere in the temperate zone.

       Bamboo stems, which grow from underground root stocks, are hollow, like most other grass stems. The stems are conspicuously marked at intervals by nodes that divide the stems into sections. If you were to cut a bamboo stem across at a node, you would find that at this place a woody partition closes the stem cavity. The branches, which grow at the very top of the plant, are numerous and sometimes spiny. Some bamboos bear flowers and seeds every year, while others bloom only once in every fifty or more years. The fruit of most bamboos is a grain, of others it is a nut, and in a few it resembles an apple.

       Bamboo seems to be the most rapidly growing of plants. In Ceylon it has been observed to grow sixteen inches in one day and night. A single root may send up as many as one hundred stems, some of which may measure three feet around. These stems rise to fifty or one hundred or even one hundred and twenty feet high, forming almost impenetrable masses. Bamboos grow so fast that if roadways are not constantly cleared, they become overgrown in just about thirty days.

       In Oriental countries the uses of bamboo are almost endless. All parts of the plant are used in one way or another. The young tender shoots are cut and served like asparagus, or they are eaten like candy or as a pickle relish. The grains of the bamboo are used as food by the Chinese and the Hindus.

       The bamboo stem, however, has the greatest number of uses. Houses are often made entirely of it. Chopsticks, hairpins, fans, baskets, and even paper are made of bamboo. Stem joints serve as water buckets, pen holders, bottles, and cooking utensils. Some species of bamboo have such a hard outer covering that knives and swords with sharp cutting edges can be made from it.

       Only two kinds of bamboo are native to the United States. These make up the canebrakes of the south. Bamboo seems to thrive best in the cotton states and in the western valleys of southern California. In this country bamboo is used mainly for fences, floors and crates. 

After reading about giant bamboo, watch how architects use it to build houses and see it grow!

• Creative ways to use bamboo in architecture 
• Magical houses made using bamboo 
• How fast can bamboo grow?

See how professional craftsmen use bamboo:

• Amazing DIY make anything with bamboo craft
• Amazing Bamboo Craft Ideas
• See how you can weave bamboo
• 10 easy ideas bamboo crafters can begin with

See how bamboo dolls are made:

• The secret of making bamboo dolls at Echizen Bamboo Doll Village
• Creative Bamboo Doll Gallery