Bamboo Plants

Bamboo plants are among the world's most useful and versatile plant. Unlike trees, bamboo grows at an amazing rate of up to 2 inches per hour.

This makes it the world's fastest growing plant. There are several instances, the bamboo plant can grow up to 4 meters in a day.

Unlike many would believe, bamboo plants are not trees. In fact, they are evergreen grasses. These grasses are divided into 91 unique genera, with over 1,000 specific plants currently known. As each species can be used for different things, this variety helps to make certain of the lasting survival of this plant.

This amazing growing rate makes bamboo plants invaluable in eastern regions such as India, China and Japan. As the bamboo plants can be used as food, wood and fuel, the fast growing rate makes this renewable resource a cornerstone of those societies. As bamboo, when properly treated, can be extremely durable and long lasting, it provides an easy solution to many problems.

One of the well known uses of bamboo plants is their cultivation as building materials. In construction, bamboo can create imposing, stable scaffoldings, provide a base wood over slower growing trees, and provide ornamental value to both the interior and exterior of a house. Other uses of bamboo material include tools such as durable cutting boards, chop sticks, tables and other pieces of furniture as well as components in popular games such as go.

When bamboo plants are just sprouting, the shoots can be {consumed|eatenFor instance, the giant bamboo contains cyanide within the shoots. Cyanide can be lethal to humans.

Many types of animals thrive by eating bamboo. Most notably is the panda, which only lives on bamboo stalks and leaves.

Although bamboo serves quite a few purposes in society, bamboo plants do not come without problems. The bamboo plant, for reasons yet proven by science, tend to have mass flowering and fruiting seasons. Most notably in the Bay of Bengal, where the bamboo plants fruit once every 30 to 35 years. This mass blooming and fruiting cases dire issues to human populations nearby. As the fruit ripens, rats swarm. As the rats swarm, the can cause economic and health problems to people. This can cause many human deaths, as there is little that can be done to stop the fruiting once it has begun. {There is little that can be done, as|As the bamboo populations require the fruiting season for survival, they cannot be simply destroyed to prevent the rat swarms.

Bamboo is a hardy plant and can grow in many regions across the globe. They are most commonly located in East Asia, although they can grow in sub-Saharan Africa, North and South America. Bamboo does not live in Europe, North Africa, western Asia, Canada and Antarctica.