How can bamboo flowering be predicted? Does bamboo die after flowering?
Flowering in bamboo is a botanical enigma. The factors that switch a bamboo plant from vegetative to flowering state are not fully understood. Nearly all species of bamboo seem to have their own life histories. Some species outside of the Indian-Asian tropics, and a very few in these tropics, have populations composed of individuals that grow to maturity and then flower and seed annually for many years. The culms that flower often die after the fruit has developed but other culms and rhizomes survive and perpetuate the stand. Many of the more common Indian-Asian species have populations made up of individuals that seed synchronously at regular and long supra-annual intervals. After growing by rhizome and branch production for a species-specific period of 3-120 years, nearly all the members of one species in one area produce wind-pollinated flowers, set large quantities of seed and die. This seed germinates immediately or when the first rains come.
