1. General information about bamboo

Bamboo is the king of grasses, a giant that, in terms of height or girth, far surpasses any other member of this ubiquitous family of plants. Although the taxonomy of the bamboo group is still not completely known, the world has upwards of fifty different genera of bamboo, containing in all some 1000 species. The adaptability of the group is astounding. Every continent except Europe and Antarctica can boast native bamboo species, though the group reaches its most extreme forms in South-East Asia. Bamboo can be found from sea-level to mountain slopes at an altitude of over 4000 m (13 000 ft). They range in size from normal grasses through scrambling climbers to goliaths like the tropical Dendrocalamus giganteus, 40 m tall and more than 1 m in circumference.

The bamboo can be classified into two main categories according to the way in which they produce their shoots. Sympodial bamboo propagates itself as a clump, sending up shoots from around its circumference and so gradually spreading across the ground. By contrast, monopodial bamboo sends out runners in all directions, sending up shoots wherever conditions are favourable. In some areas stands of bamboo of vast total area can all derive from a single parent plant. In effect, the whole bamboo woodland is one enormous clone. Clump-type bamboo tends to be found in tropical areas, such as the south of China. In panda country, high in the mountains, monopodial bamboo predominates, as it does over most of the temperate zone.

Chinese and Bamboo:

China probably has the largest number of bamboo species of any nation - 300 species comprising twenty-six genera. The Chinese have used the bamboo for centuries to provide for almost all their needs. It has been the means of survival and of destruction, providing tools to plough and work the land and weapons with which to wage war. Bamboo paper has afforded a record of the nation's history unsurpassed anywhere in the world. The first records were inscribed on the protective sheaths of bamboo shoots. These sheaths became the first 'paper' pages; strung together they made the first book. The brush and stylus that recorded these events were in all probability also made of bamboo. Before the introduction of air conditioning and electric fans, many men took solace in a 'bamboo wife', a long cylinder of bamboo basketwork which lay beside the sleeper and allowed cool breezes to pass unhindered.

The Chinese transported goods around the country in bamboo bullock-carts and one-wheeled hand-carts that permitted easy access across the narrow, 30 cm (12 ins) wide paths between rice-paddies. People were also transported by bamboo, in litters and palanquins carried by two or four porters. Indeed, in certain inaccessible areas, they still are. On the Min River in Sichuian, there is a bridge constructed almost entirely of bamboo. Great cables of twisted bamboo, almost 20cm in diameter, support the bridge, which is still in use after 1000 years.

Bamboo is also important in Chinese medicine. The under-ground root of the black bamboo (Phyllostachys nigra) is used in the treatment of kidney problems. When heated, the sap that exudes from the fresh stems of this same species is used, instead of aspirin, to reduce fevers. Another species, Sinocalamus affinis, is burned and the ash used to treat prickly heat. Given its shape and rapid growth it would be surprising if the bamboo had escaped an association with the erotic arts. In the south of China, and also in India, a hard amber-like secretion, tabasheer, that forms between the nodes of certain species has the reputation for being a sovereign cure for impotence. It can also cure asthma.

Even in this age of plastics, the bamboo is still invaluable to the Chinese. In a street in Chengdu, children play with bamboo toys, while their younger siblings were wheeled in prams made entirely of bamboo, or rocked to sleep in bamboo cradles by grandparents who sat smoking bamboo pipes in bamboo chairs.

Researchers have documented at least 1000 uses for the plant, including roof tiles, musical instruments, gutters and rain-spouts, ladders, irrigation pipes, fencing and rafts. One engineer has even used it to distil a fuel for diesel engines. The usefulness of bamboo seems limited only by the imagination of Man.

Appendix: Why is the bamboo so versatile?

Animals and Bamboo:

Many other species are attracted to this seasonal feast of bamboo shoot. Apart from the red and giant pandas, bamboo rat, takin, sambar and tufted deer, wild pig, porcupine and squirrels all take advantage of this nutritional bonanza. The parrotbill, Conostoma oemodium, was observed visiting the young shoots, using its curved beak to tear away the shoots' protective sheaths and feed on the tender tips. Surprisingly, insects probably take a heavier toll on the emerging shoots than any of these vertebrate predators. Seemingly strong shoots will suddenly stop growing, the tips turning soft, their colour changing from vibrant green to sickly yellow. The cause is insect larvae, particularly of beetles and Anthomiid flies, which live inside the plant, between the nodes, and literally eat it alive. In a three-year period at Wolong, insects killed, on average, 19 percent of all new shoots produced. Additional research showed that whereas insects chose thin shoots in which they lay their eggs, usually with a diameter of between 0.7 to 0.9 cm, giant pandas selected thicker shoots. While this is good for both panda and insects, as they do not compete with one another for the same resources, it puts the bamboo under twice as much pressure from predators.

In the Wolong area insects and pandas together destroy somewhere between 33 per cent and 50 per cent of all new shoots produced every year. Despite its reserve status, much of the remaining wildlife of Wolong has been heavily hunted and is still at low levels. It is believed that where species such as wild pig and bear have not been so heavily culled, the combined grazing pressure on the new shoots could mean that, in an average year, most if not all of the year's shoot production could be destroyed. This is especially true as giant panda hunt out surviving shoots the following winter. In these years, only the periodic ‘good shoot years’, where many more than the average number of shoots is produced, allow the bamboo to survive.

Appendix: Another animal that feeds on bamboo all year round...

2. Bamboo that are found in giant panda’s mountain home
3. One of the Most Special Features of the Bamboos – Synchronous Flowering