Bamboo

Etymology

The name " bambou" comes from a small area in the North-West of China which is called Bambonesia. The specilalists think between two hypotèses:

- According to the legend, the queen of this area, Bamboo gave the life to 1.239 children (" Bambou" mean in one of the dialects Chinese " réencarnation") who, those, were the future kings of China, of Mongolia, of Tibet, India and Nepal in turn. When the mother dies, it was burned and his ashes were kept. To honor their mother, her sons took ashes of the queen, went up on more the high mountain of the world and threw them in the quatres directions of the wind. Those fell on the virgin land around the ponds and became seeds, then plants. One gave them the name of the Bamboo queen to pay homage to him, because these plants were starting from its heart, representative thus the reencarnation.

- Another Indian legend, older, known as that God of the plants fell in love with a flower; he liked it as well, as he proposed the marriage to him. But this one, having the beauty but not heart, refused coldly. The god, had the so broken heart, that its love changed of hatred. He wanted to be avenged, to kill his amante. But when it approached it, a knife with the hand, found it once again so beautiful that he could not make him evil. But it had nevertheless to be punished. It created another plant: shy person, tender and fertilizes, because there knew, that flower without heart, even if it would happen that both are linked, would never have children, it would remain virgin, and thus would give any new life, no new love in the world. Thus, it called its " creation; Bemfti" , which meant " fruitfulness infinie". That was transformed meanwhile into " Bambou" , which is not other than downward plant creates by the god of the plants.

General characters

The rhizome

All the bamboos have Tige S underground, called rhizome S. They make it possible the plant to grow by forming more or less tight tufts. It is also a body of reserve. The roots are adventitious and develop around the nodes of the rhizome.

One can firstly distinguish two types of system of rhizome.

Pachymorphes

The rhizomes pachymorphes (grc thick πᾰχῠς; grc μορφή, form) are short and thick and meet at the cespiteux bamboos ( Bambusa glaucescens , Bambusa vulgaris , Fargesia murielæ , Fargesia nitida ).

Leptomorphes

The rhizomes leptomorphes (grc λεπτός, thin; grc μορφή, form) are long and thin and meet at the tracing bamboos ( Semiarundaria , Sasa , Pleioblastus ).

Grouped Sympodial

Dispersed Sympodial

Intermediate Amphipodial

Dipersé Monopodial

Thatch

The principal stem is a Chaume, or canes, lignified, sinus (i.e. out of hollow tube) partitioned with the nodes. The scar visible with the nodes is the trace of the sheath of the fallen sheets. Thatch can be divided into broken into leaf branches, them same divided into ramuscules.

The wood of thatches, rich in Silica, is very hard and very resistant. The size of the stems varies according to the species of less than one meter with nearly 10 Mr. the speed of growth can at certain species spectacular being, up to one meter per day (Strength which the Chinese would have used to make a torment).

Thatches are balanced with the strong winds and yield under the weight of snow but they seldom break. This flexibility is due to the hollow entrenœuds of each thatch.

The sheet

Like all the Sheet S of Graminaceous S, it includes/understands a sheath, the sleeve which wraps stubbles it, which presents to its top a Ligule and auricles more or less developed, the rather short Pétiole, and the very lengthened limb, with parallel veins, left apparent the sheet.

It results from it that the sheet of the bamboo is clearly cut out, rather single fact at the monocotylédones, Poacées. The bamboos are not trees and do not have branches. What certain people call, wrongly, a “branch” of bamboo is actually a sheet of bamboo.

Flowering

List of the dates of flowering of bamboo .

The flowering of the bamboos present of the particular characteristics, which however are not always checked:

flowering regular and is not often spaced several tens of years (the bamboo with black stems flowered for the last time in 1920)
for a given species, it occurs simultaneously in a whole area, even in the whole world, whatever the age of the plant;
thatches are desiccated and died after having flowered.

Noted many times, the simultaneity of flowering yet was not scientifically explained. One of the assumptions would be a memory genetic, contained information in the DNA of the bamboo and different according to each variety.

The Fleur S, rather rare, appear with the armpit of the sheets, as well on young stems as on old stems. They are grouped in épillet S.

Fruit

The fruit is with the flower the least known structure of the bamboos. Caryopse S can be found at certain species of Arundinariinae.

Principal kinds

Distribution

List of the species of bamboos per country

The major part of the species of bamboos are mainly originating in Asia and America where one finds them at variable altitudes, up to 3000 m in the the Himalayas. Some rare species are spontaneous in continental Africa and Oceania. None is spontaneous in Europe. Their surface of distribution knew a strong progression by the culture.

Classification of the Bambusoideae

Article detailed on the Classification of bambousoidées the.

Culture

Taking into account the random flowering of the bamboo, the modern culture is done by Bouturage of a piece of rhizome preserved with its roots. The bamboo must be approximately four years old to be able to be cutting effectively. One detaches a piece of three thatches consecutive to make a cutting of it. The young seedlings require shade in order to refresh the surface roots and the tender growths. After a few years the foliage is enough to bring the shade necessary. One plants the mound of rhizomes in a fresh and wet ground, drained well in winter. The plantation is done between March and April after the last frosts or between August and September. The mound is soaked beforehand by paying attention that it does not break then not placed in a worked ground mixed with compost. One recovers finally of three good layers of peat. A tutor can be useful. To sprinkle once per week during the summer. Attention, the roots and rhizomes are invading and gènent the remainder of the vegetation. At the beginning of spring, it is necessary to cut the useless stems to the short-nap cloth and to amend the ground if this one is poor.

Use

Scaffolding

The trunk of the bamboo is used for its resistance and its lightness for the scaffolding of the Gratte-ciel. Among ten higher of the world, those of the Two International Finances Center (416 m) and Central Plaza (374 m) of Hong-Kong, the Jin Mao Tower (421 m) of Shanghai, the Shun Hing Square (384 m) Shenzhen or the Citic Plaza (391 m) of Guangzhou (Canton), in China, in particular used this material.

Writing and drawing

The bamboo is also used in Dessin and Peinture, like tool to draw with the Indian ink.

Bamboo and environment

It is graminaceous woody, it is currently with the mode like ecological substitute.

Food plant

The Turion S of all the species are edible, although some can be rather bitter. Phyllostachys edulis is the subject of industrial crops to this end. The starts-up are gathered, a little like asparaguses, as soon as they start to leave ground. The majority of the species are not eaten raw because of their bitterness. One makes them boil or roast in their envelope, which one removes then, before émincer the heart of the growths to prepare them in salad, crackling or sauce. The growths of certain species ( Sifted ) can be roasted with the furnace and tasted directly.

Certains bamboos is used in Phytothérapie.
the Graine S can be ground and give a nutritive flour.
Certaines species can be cultivated in the form of pastures for the cattle.
the Panda S giants nourish bamboos exclusively.

Decorative plant

The bamboos are required like decorative plants for their foliage, which can be green or mixed of white or yellow, for their stems, thatches, particularly those of the Phyllostachys , whose colors are varied: green, black, yellow, mottled, striped, etc, and for their port, of the plant papering with the bamboo of big size. They are often used in tufts at the edge of the water parts or in hedges. One can make Bonsaï S of them, in particular Phyllostachys humilis .

It is possible to observe many species of bamboos to the Bambouseraie of Prafrance in the Gard (France).

Paper pulp

The bamboos can be used to produce Pulp paper. This practice is very former in China.

Textile

With more than one thousand of known species and innumerable applications, the bamboo conquers today the market of the Textile. A process similar to the transformation of the paper pulp into rayon makes it possible to highly change robust growths into a silky fabric absorbent and antibactérien. Shops specialized, and even certain national chains American, market from now on clothing and household linen containing bamboo filament. The consumers appreciate that these products come from a renewable natural source which pushes without requiring many chemicals. In 2004, the China - first world producer of bamboos - exported for the equivalent of a million dollars of bamboos intended for the sector of the textile. In 2006, this amount was multiplied by ten!

Various objects

Manufacture of pieces of furniture, parquet floor, tutors, fishing canes, arcs, of intruments of music to wind or percussion, ustensils various (vases, pots with tobacco, cases…).

Manufacture of fabric sponge.

Construction and palisades

Light constructions (boxes, Piloti S, partitions, “bridges of monkeys”…)

Collections of bamboos

Bamboo plantation

See too

Bamboo (first name)

female first name more generalementmaisparfois male very seldom used

External bonds

the bamboo plantation of Anduze in Gard
All on the bamboo
Bambunera
Center Internacional de Documentació of Canya
''' Forum on the bamboo '''

Simple: Bamboo Zh-yue: 竹

Random links: