misspelledsearch.com:

bamboo rug

information page

If you cannot find the information you are searching for on this page, we suggest searching Google with the correct spelling "bamboo rug":

This article is about the plant bamboo. For the Filipino rock band, see Bamboo (band) and for the Kenyan MC see Bamboo (lyricist).

Bamboos are a group of woody perennial evergreen plants in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Some of its members are giants, forming by far the largest members of the grass family.

Bamboos are found in diverse climates, from cold mountains to hot tropical regions. They occur from Northeast Asia (at 50°N latitude in Sakhalin), south throughout East Asia west to the Himalaya, and south to northern Australia. They also occur in sub-Saharan Africa, and in the Americas from the southeast of the USA south to Chile, there reaching their furthest south anywhere, at 47°S latitude. Major areas with no native bamboos include Europe, North Africa, Western Asia, northern North America, most of Australia and Antarctica.

Biology

The stems, or 'culms', can range in height from a few centimetres to 40 metres, with stem diameters ranging from 1 mm to 30 cm. The stems are jointed, with regular nodes; each node bears one leaf, and may also have one to several side branches. They are thus, unlike most other grasses, extensively branched; in large-growing species a single stem may carry many thousands of branchlets.

Many of the larger bamboos are very tree-like in appearance, but perhaps illogically they are rarely called trees, despite that term being a growth form, not a botanical term. For comparison, palms, which like bamboos are monocotyledons, are equally dissimilar to other trees, yet are usually called trees.

A single stem of bamboo from an established root system typically reaches full height in just one year, but then persists for several years, gradually increasing the number of side branches and branchlets.

Some species of bamboo rarely flower, some of them only every 10-100 or more years. Some of these species are monocarpic, the plant dying after the seed matures. Furthermore, all the individuals of the species will flower at the same time in a large geographical region. This is thought to have evolved to reduce the effect of predators of the seed, who would be unable to depend on a predictable food supply.

Cultivation

Many bamboos are popular in cultivation as garden plants. In cultivation, care needs to be taken of their potential for invasive behaviour. They spread mainly through their roots and/or rhizomes, which can spread widely underground and send off new culms to break through the surface. There are two patterns for the spreading of bamboo, "clumping" (monopodial) and "running" (sympodial). Clumping bamboo species tend to spread underground slowly. Running bamboo species are highly variable in their tendency to spread; this is related to both the species and the soil and climate conditions. Some can send out runners several metres a year, while others can stay in the same general area for long periods. If neglected, they can be invasive over time and can cause problems by moving into adjacent areas. Once established as a grove, it is difficult to completely remove bamboo without digging up the entire network of underground rhizomes. If bamboo must be removed, an alternative to digging it up is to cut down the culms, and then repeatedly mow down new shoots as they arise, until the root system exhausts its energy supply and dies. The reputation of bamboo as being highly invasive is often exaggerated, and situations where it has taken over large areas is often the result of years of untended or neglected plantings.

There are two main ways to prevent the spread of running bamboo into adjacent areas. The first involves surrounding it with a physical barrier, usually a special, high density, plastic roll material made for this purpose; this is placed in a 60-90 cm (2-3 feet) deep ditch around the planting, and angled out at the top to direct the rhizomes to the surface. The second method is rhizome pruning, which involves taking a sharp spade and cutting down into the ground 30 cm (1 foot) all along the perimeter that is to be maintained. The root system is generally very close to the surface, so, if rhizome pruning is done twice a year, it will sever most, if not all, of the new growth. Since the new roots are dependent on older parts of the root system for nourishment, anything beyond the shovel cut will die in the ground and be unable to reestablish itself.

Established bamboo will send up shoots that generally grow to their full height in a single season, making it the fastest growing woody plant. Several subtropical bamboo species can grow 30 cm (1 foot) per day, with some species having been documented as growing over 100 cm in one day. For the species most widely cultivated in gardens, 3-5 cm per day is more typical. A newly transplanted bamboo plant can take 1-2 years before it sends up new shoots (culms) and will have many seasons of "sizing up" before new shoots achieve the maximum potential height for that species.

Uses

Culinary uses

The shoots (new bamboo culms that come out of the ground) of bamboo, called zhú sǔn (竹笋) in Chinese, are edible. They are used in Asian stir fry, and are available in supermarkets in various sliced forms. However, the shoots of some species contain toxins that need to be leached or boiled out before they can be eaten safely. Pickled bamboo, used as a condiment, may also be made from the pith of the young shoots.

The sap of young stalks tapped during the rainy season may be fermented to make ulanzi (a sweet wine), or simply made into a soft drink. Zhúyèqīng jiǔ (竹叶青酒) is a green-coloured Chinese liquor that has bamboo leaves as one of its ingredients.

Other uses

Bamboo forms a very hard wood, especially when seasoned, and is light and exceptionally tough. This makes it useful for many things such as houses (in tropical climates), fences, bridges, walking sticks, furniture, chopsticks, food steamers, toys, construction scaffolding, hats, abaci and various musical instruments such as the shakuhachi, and jinghu. Modern companies are attempting to popularize flooring made of bamboo pieces steamed, flattened, glued together, finished, and cut. However bamboo wood is easily infested by wood-boring insects unless treated with wood preservatives or kept very dry.

When bamboo is harvested for wood, care is needed to select mature stems that are several years old, as first-year stems, although full size, are not fully woody and are not strong.

Culms may be cut and hollowed into vases or drinkware, tubes, or pipes for liquids.

Bamboo canes are normally round in cross-section, but square canes can be produced by forcing the new young culms to grow through a tube of square cross-section and slightly smaller than the culm's natural diameter, thereby constricting the growth to the shape of the tube. Every few days the tube is removed and replaced higher up the fast-growing culm.

The fibre of bamboo has been used to make paper in China since early times. A high quality hand-made paper is still produced in small quantities. Coarse bamboo paper is still used to make spirit money in many Chinese communities.

The wood is used for knitting needles and the fibre can be used for yarn.

A variety of bamboo was one of about two dozen plants carried by Polynesian voyagers to provide all their needs settling new islands; in the Hawaiian Islands, among many uses, 'Ohe (bamboo) carried water, made irrigation troughs for taro terraces, was used as a traditional knife for cutting the umbilical cord of a newborn, as a stamp for dyeing bark tapa cloth, and for four hula instruments - nose flute, rattle, stamping pipes and Jew's harp.

Cultural aspects

Bamboo's long life makes it a Chinese symbol of long life, while in India it is a symbol of friendship. Its rare blossoming has led to the flowers' being regarded as a sign of impending famine. Several Asian cultures, including that of the Andaman Islands, believe that humanity emerged from a bamboo stem. Malaysian legends include the story of a man who dreams of a beautiful woman while sleeping under a bamboo plant; he wakes up and breaks the bamboo stem, discovering the woman inside. In the Philippines, bamboo crosses are used as a good luck charm by farmers. In Japan, a bamboo forest sometimes surrounds a Shinto shrine as part of a sacred barrier against evils. Also, bamboo is considered second in the rank in the order of "Matsu (pine wood), Take (bamboo), Ume (sometimes translated as apricot or plum)" and this order is used when ordering a sushi course or getting a room in a traditional Ryokan inn. Hawaiian bamboo ('ohe) is a kinolau or body form of the Polynesian creator god Kane.

In Chinese culture, the bamboo (zhú 竹), along with mei (méi 梅, the same tree as Japanese ume), orchids (lán 蘭), and chrysanthemum (jú 菊) are all held in high esteem and are collectively referred as "the four of great nobility" (四君子). Each plant represents a particular aspect of a noble person in Confucian ideology. The four plants are commonly mentioned together as "méi lán zhú jú" (梅蘭竹菊).

Other aspects

Soft bamboo shoots, stems, and leaves are the major food source of the Giant Panda of China and the Spider monkey.

The plant marketed as "lucky bamboo" is actually an entirely unrelated species, Dracaena sanderiana.

See also

• Japanese knotweed
• Dracaena sanderiana ("lucky bamboo")

References and external links

• Bamboo Arts and Craft Network
• International Network for Bamboo and Rattan
• Environmental Bamboo Foundation
• Bamboo of the Americas
• A thousand uses for bamboo
• American Bamboo Society

This bamboo rug index site has been developed to help wayward users find the information they are looking for, no matter how they are mistakenly spelled or mistyped. This site is designed to help users find bamboo rug information for the following query variants:

bamboo	bamboo ru	bamboo lu	bamboo lug
bamboo rgu	bamboo urg	bamboo rg	bamboo ug
rug	bahmboo rug	bahmbou rug	bambou rug
baboo rug	bahboo rug	bahbou rug	babou rug
bahmbo rug	bambo rug	banbo rug	bamobo rug
babmoo rug	bmaboo rug	abmboo rug

If you would like to add or correct the content of this site, or if you are interested in supporting the efforts of misspelledsearch.com by placing your product information on these bamboo rug pages, please contact mistype@gmail.com for details.