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Bambusa
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Bambusa pallida is a type of bamboo tree.
- ^ "Bambusa pallida (L.) Voss". The Plant List, RBG Kew. Retrieved 24 January 2012.
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Source | http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bambusa_pallida&oldid=651025963 |
Bambusa is a genus of bamboos with more than 100 species of tall, woody, perennial grasses (subfamily Bambusoideae of family Poaceae), native to tropical and subtropical Asia but now cultivated in tropical areas around the world. China has 67 endemic Bambusa species, mostly in the south and southwest, with an additional 13 species that are native but occur in a larger region (Flora of China 2011). Bamboo species in this and other genera in the Bambuseae have numerous uses as food, fiber, and construction material, worth over $2 billion in 2000 (Lobovikov 2007), and play an important role in Asian culture, history, and ritual.
Bambusa species are characterized by a prominent rhizome system, woody, branching culms (stems), and leaf blades with petioles (McClure 1966). They grow 2–35 meters tall (Watson 1992) and are a clumping (pachymorph) type, in which rhizomes develop new culms close to the parent plants (rather than the running, or leptomorph, type characteristic of the species with serious invasive potential, in which rhizomes can grow 9–10 meters (30 feet) per year, sending up new culms along the full length; Waynesword 2011).
Many Bambusa species have been cultivated for so long that there are few, if any, populations known in the wild. These species are cultivated for a large range of uses (Flora of China 2011, Watson and Dallwitz 1992): for construction, scaffolding, and building materials (B. arundinacea, B. dissemulator, B. duriuscula, B. gibba, B. lapidea, B. malingensis, B. pervariabilis, B. rigida, B. sinospinosa, B. tuldoides, and B. vulgaris); split and woven into mats and other goods (B. albolineata, B. chungii, B. lenta, and B. textilis); for fishing rods, ski poles and furniture (B. pervariabilis), and for pulp and fiber for paper and rayon (B. guadua, among others). Several species are cultivated for their edible shoots (B. gibboides, B. variostriata). A number of species are famous for their use as ornamentals (B. multiplex, B. ventricosa, and B. vulgaris); some are used for hedges and property markings (B. flexuosa, B. gibba, B. sinospinosa). Various of the species are used for medicinal purposes, including as a febrifuge (to lower fever) and anti-emetic (to stop vomiting) and to treat kidney troubles and hematuria (ISSG 2011, Ngoc and Borton 2007).
Due to their fast growth and clonal habit, bamboo species may become weedy or invasive, although the pachymorph types do not generally spread as rapidly as the leptomorph types. Some Bambusa species, such as B. vulgaris, are classified as invasive in various Pacific islands (including in the Cook Islands, Fiji, Micronesia, the Philippines, and New Zealand), where they may colonize along streams and form dense monotypic stands despite their clumping habit (ISSG 2011, PIER 2011).
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Jacqueline Courteau, Jacqueline Courteau |
Source | No source database. |
Trees. Inflorescence comprising an untidy tuft or stellate cluster of 1-many pseudospikelets, sessile at a node, the primary subtending scale usually glume-like, sometimes spathaceous. Spikelets 2-many-flowered; glumes 1-3; lemmas subequal. Stamens 6. Stigmas usually 3.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Mark Hyde, Bart Wursten, Petra Ballings, Flora of Zimbabwe |
Source | http://www.zimbabweflora.co.zw/speciesdata/genus.php?genus_id=112 |
In Great Britain and/or Ireland:
Foodplant / saprobe
colony of Arthrinium dematiaceous anamorph of Apiospora montagnei is saprobic on dead stem of Bambusa
Foodplant / saprobe
colony of Arthrinium dematiaceous anamorph of Arthrinium phaeospermum is saprobic on dead leaf of Bambusa
Remarks: season: esp. 7-8
Foodplant / saprobe
fruitbody of Schizopora paradoxa is saprobic on dead, decayed stem of Bambusa
Other: unusual host/prey
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | BioImages, BioImages - the Virtual Fieldguide (UK) |
Source | http://www.bioimages.org.uk/html/Bambusa.htm |
Thin-walled tubular stems resist buckling: bamboo
The stems of many plants may resist buckling by including transverse bulkheads that prevent ovalization.
"The condition of having one fixed end is of particular biological interest--it's the situation of long, slender plant stems such as those of dandelions, grass, bamboo, and others…As emphasized by Schulgasser and Witztum (1992), their anisotropy greatly increases the risk of buckling for plants that use thin-walled tubular construction. Mainly, the tubes, normally circular in cross section, go somewhat oval just prior to buckling, and that reduces the critical force. Preventing that ovalization may be one of the roles of the periodic transverse bulkheads so conspicuous in, for instance, bamboo." (Vogel 2003)
Learn more about this functional adaptation.
- Steven Vogel. 2003. Comparative Biomechanics: Life's Physical World. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 580 p.
- Schulgasser, K; Witztum, A. 1992. On the strength, stiffness, and stability of tubular plant stems and leaves. Journal of Theoretical Biology. 155: 497-515.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | (c) 2008-2009 The Biomimicry Institute |
Source | http://www.asknature.org/strategy/7e5683b29f576ebcb7b39f567b7768c2 |
Fiber gives toughness: bamboo and trees
Fibers of bamboo and trees provide toughness by their simple structure of fiber-reinforced composites
"[I]t has been found that these natural biomaterials [bamboos and trees] have very reasonable structures which gives them many excellent properties, such as good carrying capacity, good toughness, self-healing, and so on. Furthermore, these biomaterials have very fine and special structures rather than complicated compositions...For example, trees and bamboos are typical long, fiber-reinforced composites. Their fibers have different sizes and arranged modes in structure so that they can display the optimal behaviors under tensile, bending, compressing stress and other applied load...So, the complicated and reasonable structure of natural biomaterials can give us an important insight into making better structure materials through biomimetic design." (Wang et al. 2000:9)
Learn more about this functional adaptation.
- Wang, C.; Huang, Y.; Zan, Q.; Guo, H.; Cai, S. 2000. Biomimetic structure design—a possible approach to change the brittleness of ceramics in nature. Materials Science & Engineering C. 11(1): 9-12.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | (c) 2008-2009 The Biomimicry Institute |
Source | http://www.asknature.org/strategy/12205d4407e29b40ffccfc65ed0426bb |
Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD) Stats
Specimen Records:124
Specimens with Sequences:120
Specimens with Barcodes:94
Species:39
Species With Barcodes:38
Public Records:89
Public Species:37
Public BINs:0
Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD) Stats
Specimen Records:1
Specimens with Sequences:1
Specimens with Barcodes:1
Species:1
Species With Barcodes:1
Public Records:1
Public Species:1
Public BINs:0