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BAMBOO
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BAMBOO , the popular name for a tribe of See also:grasses, Bambuseae. which are large, often See also:tree-like, with woody stems. The stems See also:spring from an underground See also:root-stock and are often crowded to See also:form dense clumps; the largest See also:species reach 120 ft. in height. The slender See also:stem is hollow, and, as generally in grasses, has well-marked See also:joints or nodes, at which the cavity is closed by a strong See also:diaphragm. The branches are numerous and in some species spiny; the narrow, often See also:short, See also:leaf-blade is usually jointed at the See also:base and has a short stalk, by which it is attached to the See also:long sheath. The spikelets are usually many-flowered and variously arranged in racemes or panicles. The See also:flower differs from that of the See also:majority of grasses in having usually three lodicules and six stamens. Many species See also:bloom annually, but others only at intervals sometimes of many years, when the individuals of one and the same species are found in bloom over large areas. Thus on the See also:west See also:coast of See also:India the simultaneous blooming of Bambusa arundinacea (fig. 1), one of the largest species, has been observed at intervals of See also:thirty-two years. After ripening of the See also:seed, the leafless flowering culms always See also:die down. The Bambuseae contain twenty-three genera and occur through-out the tropical See also:zone, but very unevenly distributed; they also extend into the sub-tropical and even into the temperate zone. Tropical See also:Asia is richest in species; in See also:Africa there are very few. In Asia they extend into See also:Japan and to io,000 ft. or more on the Himalayas; and in the See also:Andes of See also:South See also:America they reach the See also:snow-See also:line. The See also:fruit in Bambusa, Arundinaria and other genera resembles the See also:grain generally characteristic of grasses, but in Dendrocalamus and others it is a See also:nut, while rarely, as in Melocanna, it is fleshy and suggests an See also:apple in See also:size and See also:appearance. The uses to which all the parts and products of the bamboo are applied in See also:Oriental countries are almost endless. The soft and succulent shoots, when just beginning to spring, are cut off and served up at table like See also:asparagus. Like that See also:vegetable, also, they are earthed over to keep them longer See also:fit for See also:consumption; and they afford a continuous See also:supply during the whole See also:year, though it is more abundant in autumn. They are also salted and eaten with See also:rice, prepared in the form of pickles or candied and preserved in See also:sugar. As the plant grows older, a species of fluid is secreted in the hollow joints, in which a See also:concrete substance once highly valued in the See also:East for its medicinal qualities, called labaxir or tabascheer, is gradually See also:developed. This substance, which has been found to be a purely siliceous 4bncretion, is possessed of See also:peculiar See also:optical properties. As a medicinal See also:agent the bamboo is entirely inert, and it has never been received into the See also:European materia medica. The grains of the bamboo are available for See also:food, and the See also:Chinese have a See also:proverb that it produces seed more abundantly in years when the rice See also:crop fails, which means, probably, that in times of dearth the natives look more after such a source of food. The See also:Hindus eat it mixed with See also:honey as a delicacy, equal quantities being put into a hollow See also:joint, coated externally with See also:clay, and thus roasted over a See also:fire. The fleshly fruit of Melocanna is baked and eaten. The plant is a native of India, but is sometimes cultivated as in See also:Mauritius. It is, however, the stem of the bamboo which is applied to the greatest variety of uses. Joints of sufficient size form See also:water buckets; smaller ones are used as bottles, and among the See also:Dyaks of See also:Borneo they are employed as cooking vessels. Bamboo is extensively used as a See also:timber See also:wood, and houses are frequently made entirely out of the products of the plant; See also:complete sections of the stem form posts or columns; split up; it serves for floors or rafters; and, interwoven in lattice-See also:work, it is employed for the sides of rooms, admitting See also:light and See also:air. The roof is sometimes of bamboo solely, and when split, which is accomplished with the greatest ease, it can be formed into laths or planks. It is employed in See also:shipping of all kinds; some of the strongest See also:plants are selected for masts of boats of moderate size, and the masts of larger vessels are sometimes formed by the See also:union of several bamboos built up and joined together. The bamboo is employed in the construction of all kinds of agricultural and domestic implements and in the materials and implements required in See also:fishery. Bows are made of it by the union of two pieces with many bands; and, the septa being bored out and the lengths joined together, it is employed, as we use leaden pipes, in transmitting water to reservoirs or gardens. From the light and slender stalks shafts for arrows are obtained; and in the south-west of Asia there is a certain species of equally slender growth, from which See also:writing-pens or reeds are made. A joint forms a holder for papers or pens, and it was in a joint of bamboo that See also:silk-See also:worm eggs were carried from See also:China to See also:Constantinople during the reign of Justinian. The See also:outer cuticle of Oriental species is so hard that it forms a See also:sharp and durable cutting edge, and it is so siliceous that it can be used as a See also:whetstone. This outer cuticle, cut into thin strips, is one of the most durable and beautiful materials for See also:basket-making, and both in China and Japan it is largely so employed. Strips are also See also:woven into cages, chairs, beds and other articles of See also:furniture, Oriental wicker-work in bamboo being unequalled for beauty and neatness of workmanship. In China the interior portions of the stem are beaten into a pulp and used for the manufacture of the finer varieties of See also:paper. Bamboos are imported to a considerable extent into See also:Europe for the use of basket-makers, and for See also:umbrella and walking-sticks. In short, the purposes to which the bamboo is applicable are almost endless, and well justify the See also:opinion that " it is one of the most wonderful and most beautiful productions of the tropics, and one of Nature's most valuable gifts to uncivilized See also:man " (A. R. See also:Wallace, The See also:Malay See also:Archipelago). A number of species of bamboo are See also:hardy under cultivation in the See also:British Isles. A useful and interesting See also:account of these and their cultivation will be found in the Bamboo See also:Garden, by A. B. See also:Freeman-See also:Mitford. They are mostly natives of China and Japan and belong to the genera Arundinaria, Bambusa and Phyllostachys; but include a few Himalayan species of Arundinaria. They may be propagated by seed (though owing to the rare occurrence of fruit, this method is seldom applicable), by See also:division and by cuttings. They are described as hungry plants which well repay generous treatment, and will flourish in a See also:rich, not too stiff See also:loam, and for the first year or two should be well mulched. They should be sheltered from winds and well watered during the growing See also:period. When being transplanted the roots must be disturbed as little as possible. The following may be mentioned; Arundinaria simoni, a See also:fine plant which in the bamboo garden at See also:Kew has reached 18 ft. in height, and not infrequently See also:flowers and fruits in See also:Britain; A. japonica, a tall and handsome plant generally grown in gardens under the name Bambusa metake; A. nitida, " by far the daintiest and most attractive of all its genus, and remarkably hardy "; Bambusa palmata, with leaves a See also:foot or more long and three inches broad; B. tesselata; B. quadrangularis, remarkable for its square stems; Phyllostachys mitis, growing to 6o ft. high in its native See also:home, China and Japan; and P. See also:nigra, so called from the See also:black stem, a handsome species. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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