Bamboo Plants

Bamboo plants are among the world’s most useful and versatile plants. Unlike trees, bamboo grows at an astonishing rate of up to 2 inches per hour. This makes it the world’s fastest growing plant.

Even though their height can be enormous, they are not part of the tree family species. They fall into the grass category. Currently, there are over a thousand species and nearly a hundred different grass subgenera. 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. Bamboo plants are cultivated as a resource of food, wood and even fuel, all of these combined help to increase it’s resourcefulness to the needs of societies abroad. 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. However, not all types of bamboo shoots should be eaten. The giant bamboo, as an example, contains cyanide within the shoots. Cyanide can be lethal to humans.

In the animal kingdom, several survive with the help of bamboo plants. 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. The bamboo plant, for reasons yet proven by science, tend to have mass flowering and fruiting seasons. This is most notable in the Bay of Bengal, where the bamboo plants bloom once every 30 to 35 years. This mass blooming and fruiting cases severe consequences to human populations nearby. As the fruit falls to the ground, rats swarm. In many cases these rats are known to carry diseases that are very harmful to humans. Famine often will follow this type of disease in these areas and once it begins to spread, many human deaths can occur. 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.

Because of its versatility, bamboo is grown and harvested in many different regions throughout the world. Bamboo is most commonly found in East Asia, although they can thrive in sub-Saharan Africa, North and South America. Many people only think of Bamboo in it’s relation to the panda bears, however, bamboo also offers many other valuable resources for human consumers, ranging from top quality building materials to a unique food source.