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Bamboos are a subfamily of the grasses
(fam. Gramineae) counting over 1000 species. The exact count is
difficult because taxonomic classification is based on flower structure and
bamboos flower rarely and sometimes at intervals of 120 years, moreover flowers
of different species are often hard to distinguish. Bamboos do not always grow
in a characteristic way, since the growth form is highly dependent upon the
particular site.
Bamboo is an evergreen plant that does not
lose its leaves in the autumn. the leaves stay green throughout the average
winter, in early spring new leavs grow out and the old ones are gradually lost.
Bamboo is a very hardy and vigorous
plant. Even if the stems and leaves have been severely damaged the plant
will usually recover. After the destructionof Hiroshima by the atomic
weapons it was the green bamboo stems that were the first sign of new life.
Another peculiar characteristic is that the
young shoots that emerge from the ground have the
same diameter at which the bamboo culm will remain throughout theri life, which
may be ten years or more. The lenght that a shoot reaches in its first
growth year is also its final lenght. Young developing bamboo plants
produce thicker and taller stems each year, until the clump reaches
maturity. The numebr of branches, however, does increase each year as does
the number of leaves.
The main structural part of a bamboo plant
are the underground system of
rhizomes, the aerial
culms
and the culm branches. All of these parts are
formed according to the same principle: an alternating series of nodes and
internodes. As abamboo grows, each new internode is wrapped in a protective
sheat, attached to the preceding node at the sheat ring. Once the
internode has lenghtened, it does not grow any further. The nodes are
massive pieces if tissue, comprising the node ring, the sheat ring and usually a
dormant bud. These dormant buds are the site of emergence of new segmented
growth.
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