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Never underestimate bamboo. It feeds humans, provides shelter for millions and sustains pandas. And although it can grow taller than many trees, it is actually a variety of grass.
Bamboo is a plant of towering significance for the environment and human civilization. Freak plants have soared to 55 meters, with stems up to 30 centimeters across. They can grow at breathtaking speed; one has been observed to grow 1.2 meters in just 24 hours. Botanically, bamboo is a woody perennial grass - but that description belies its versatility. It can tolerate both drought and flood, flourishing at sea level and in mountains up to 3,700 meters high. It first waved in the wind 200 million years ago and is native to every continent except Europe and Antarctica. Taxonomists claim there are more than 1,500 known species yet expert plant hunters continue to make fresh discoveries in remote valleys in Asia.
Since earliest times, humans have found the extraordinary properties of bamboo irresistible. The young shoots can be cooked and eaten. The stems, properly known as culms, are strong enough after three years to be used to built homes, pavilions and even bridges. The leaves are good for animal fodder, and there is probably some bamboo in your kitchen drawer right now in the form of chopsticks - the vast majority of the disposable variety are made from bamboo or wood. Up to 600 million people are said to rely on bamboo for their income.
Bamboo fibers can be turned into paper. Bamboo brushes were used for the earliest writing. Fishermen have always used bamboo for spears, rods, nets and rafts. Bamboo floors, screens and furniture grace
millions of homes worldwide. But this is mainly an ease of use thing; bamboo doesn't wear very well in high traffic areas. Luckily it is very easy to replace when it does deteriorate. Silica can be extracted from the culms and, under its popular name of tabasheer, can be used as medicine to cure ailments including coughs, asthma and poisoning. In China, ingredients from the roots of black bamboo help treat kidney disease.
Water pipes, storage pots, bows and arrows are ancient uses. More than four thousand years ago in China,bamboo was counted among the eight cardinal materials for musical instruments. As Asian, African and Latin American civilizations have developed, new applications have been invented for bamboo. It is so adaptable books have been written listing the 1,500 or more known uses for bamboo, from acupuncture needles to zithers, taking in aeroplanes, clothing, firearms, firewood, plumbing, umbrellas, wind turbine blades and waterwheels along the way.
One drawback is that bamboo has always been regarded as a second choice, commonplace material - but that is changing. "With appropriate skills, farmers may be able to transform raw bamboo material worth US$5 into manufactured goods worth $100," says Colin Black, a bio scientist at Nottingham University in England. So national governments are funding bamboo cultivation and finding even more uses for it. For example, researchers at the University of North Carolina in the United States have patented a mix of glass fibre and bamboo fibre for bandages that stimulate blood clothing, staunching the flow from wounds.
Versatile by Nature
Bamboo fibers can be turned into paper. Bamboo brushes were used for the earliest writing. Fishermen have always used bamboo for spears, rods, nets and rafts. Bamboo floors, screens and furniture grace
millions of homes worldwide. But this is mainly an ease of use thing; bamboo doesn't wear very well in high traffic areas. Luckily it is very easy to replace when it does deteriorate. Silica can be extracted from the culms and, under its popular name of tabasheer, can be used as medicine to cure ailments including coughs, asthma and poisoning. In China, ingredients from the roots of black bamboo help treat kidney disease.
Water pipes, storage pots, bows and arrows are ancient uses. More than four thousand years ago in China,bamboo was counted among the eight cardinal materials for musical instruments. As Asian, African and Latin American civilizations have developed, new applications have been invented for bamboo. It is so adaptable books have been written listing the 1,500 or more known uses for bamboo, from acupuncture needles to zithers, taking in aeroplanes, clothing, firearms, firewood, plumbing, umbrellas, wind turbine blades and waterwheels along the way.
One drawback is that bamboo has always been regarded as a second choice, commonplace material - but that is changing. "With appropriate skills, farmers may be able to transform raw bamboo material worth US$5 into manufactured goods worth $100," says Colin Black, a bio scientist at Nottingham University in England. So national governments are funding bamboo cultivation and finding even more uses for it. For example, researchers at the University of North Carolina in the United States have patented a mix of glass fibre and bamboo fibre for bandages that stimulate blood clothing, staunching the flow from wounds.
