Environmentally Friendly Bamboo

Bamboo is the fastest growing woody plant in the world. It is a perennial evergreen plant in the grass family of Poaceae subfamily Bambuseae.
Bamboo grows up to a rate of 1.5 metres per day.

There are over 1,000 species of bamboo in the world.
Found in cold climate through to hot tropical regions.
Common throughout East Asia through to Northern Australia. Also in India to the Himalayas, sub-Sahara Africa and in the South East of the United States to Argentina and Chile.

Clumping bamboo species spread slowly, similar to ornamental grasses.
Running bamboo spreads aggressively through the roots and is very hard to control.
Bamboo seldom flowers, some species only once in 50 years. In some cultures a flowering bamboo is a sign of a famine to come.
Sometimes after bamboo flowers, it will die, or the characteristics of the plant will change, creating a new type of bamboo.
There are some species of bamboo that exist now because of these changes after flowering.

COMMERCIAL USES

Timber for commercial use is harvested from cultivated bamboo usually from the genus Phyllostachys.

Bamboo is used for furniture, fencing, bridges, toilets, walking sticks, chopsticks, food steamers, canoes, bicycles, toys, hats, musical instruments, lamp shades, fishing rods, martial art weapons and now computers.

The fibre from bamboo has been used for centuries in China to make paper. This paper is hand made and of very high quality. It is still available today but is only produced in small quantities.

Sheets and towels are currently being made from a mixture of bamboo and cotton. They are becoming very popular and more widely available.  Bamboo is also being used to make skakeboards, surfboards and snowboards. Bamboo is stronger, lighter and more durable than than some materials currently being used.
One stalk of bamboo can be made into a didgeridoo used by indigenious Australians.

Bamboo doesn't need fertilizer or pesticides for it to grow successfully and quickly.

Bamboo is also used in Chinese medicine for treating infections. It is a good source of potassium.

Bamboo is also used as a food source.

Bamboo shoots are used extensively in Asian cooking.
Bamboo leaves are used to wrap Zongzi, a steamed dumpling popular in Southern China.
Large bamboo stalks are also made into cooking pots and utensils.

In China the bamboo is a symbol of longevity.
In India the bamboo is a symbol of friendship.

Bamboo is of course the main food source of the Giant Panda and the Red Panda. Each panda eats huge quantities of bamboo shoots, leaves and stalks. There is not a lot of nutrition in bamboo so they need to eat lots to get the nutrients they need.

So bamboo is indeed a very valuable resource. It is environmentally friendly, cost efficient, durable, lightweight and strong.