Chinese Bamboo Plant
What Is A Chinese Bamboo Plant?
The Chinese Bamboo Plant is an amazing plant. While many people think of it as a tree, it is actually part of the grass family. Like many other grasses, the inside of the bamboo stem is hollow, giving it an amazing level of strength. The Chinese bamboo plant is very fast growing and can grow as much as 2 feet per day given the right soil conditions.
One of the most amazing things about this plant is how it grows when it is first planted. When planted and cared for, it only shoots out a small sprout in its first year. With continued care over the second, third, and fourth years there is no obvious change in the plant. Then, in the fifth year the plant goes from almost nothing to growing up to 90 feet tall. The reason it takes so long for the bamboo shoot to grow so tall is that it takes that first five years to grow an extensive root system that will nourish and anchor the plant.
The Chinese bamboo plant only grows a stalk the first year and in the second year it begins to grow branches and leaves and the pant reaches maturity in about 3 years. Over the 2-5 years after reaching maturity the plant’s culm is overtaken by fungi and mold. This is a natural process that ultimately kills the bamboo. When the bamboo succumbs to the fungal growth, it is ready for harvest and use in construction.
The Chinese bamboo plant has been recognized as the ideal construction material because it is a renewable resource. Because it grows so quickly, it is easily replaced when harvested. Besides construction, bamboo can be used to make musical instruments, paper, and textiles and it also has culinary and medicinal uses. In fact, bamboo’s use as paper dates back to 5th century BC in China.
Bamboo plants have a sweet taste and are a good source of potassium and other nutrients and protein. The Chinese bamboo plant is the primary food source of the Giant Panda of China and the Red Panda of Nepal. The plant rarely flowers and is often used in an ornamental fashion, which poses difficulties due to its tendency to spread rapidly.
In addition to the obvious nutritional value and concrete uses to which bamboo can be put, it holds a special place in the culture, history, myth, and legend of the countries in Southeast Asia, particularly in China, Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia, and India. In China, the bamboo plant represents longevity and in Japan a bamboo forest is considered a sacred barrier against evil.
However, regardless of the various mythical and religious characteristics associated with bamboo, there is no doubt that in today’s modern world, this is a versatile plant that offers a valuable environmental solution to the construction of buildings, paper, clothing, and many other items.