How does bamboo grow?
Bamboo grows in a fashion that is quite different from the way that a tree develops. A tree has a layer of living tissue around the outside of it’s trunk just beneath the bark. Left alone this layer of tissue adds an ever increasing circle of wood around the central mass which you can recognise as the concentric annual rings in cut timber. Not so bamboo. The bamboo stems emerge from the ground as buds with the same diameter as the final stem. All they do is grow longer in much the same way as a telescope, extending at a very rapid rate that can be in excess of a metre a day in a mature stand. When the culm is around three quarters to two thirds tall the elongation will tend to taper. However, they will remain the same diameter and possibly only grow another 10% taller as they mature over the next twelve months. When the culm has reached full height branches will start to appear and depending on species a new shoot can be fully developed within three months. During the shooting stage th
In the spring time, a vegetative root of bamboo, called the culm (essentially its trunk), begins its growth from where it was stored as food in the roots of the previous year. As the bamboo culm grows, branches develop at the nodes (the number of branches at the nodes is an important taxonomy characteristic in identifying bamboos – though there are variations). The life cycle of bamboo is more or less defined and regulated. Within a 5-8 week growing period most bamboos reach close to their mature height, growing so fast that it is almost possible to see bamboo grow with the naked eye when observed against a measuring stick. At the moment the young growing culm appears in the soil, it will not increase in diameter – the diameter will remain consistent until the bamboo has reached its final height. Most bamboos flower only once in their life before dying. Bamboo tends to have woody stems (bamboo is actually an evergreen which won’t lose its leaves) and can further be divided into those t
