About Bamboo
About Bamboo... Although it may not look like grass, it is a group of perennial evergreen plants in the Poaceae grass family. Some members of this group of plants are gigantic and the largest members of the grass family with growth of one metre a day from some species. There are around 1,000 species and 91 genera. The plants grow in many countries across the globe from northern Australia to East Asia, from India to the USA, Europe and Africa... and even Antarctica.
In East Asia bamboo has an established and wide variety of uses, for example; food, building materials, and in gardens. It is now fastly becoming more popular in the West for commercial and domestic uses.
With treatment, bamboo forms into a light, exceptionally durable, and very hard wood that is tough enough to be used for flooring, construction materials, furniture, and even building houses!.
Uses
In some parts of the world it is an ideal evergreen plant in the garden and is popular for use in gardens as fencing, hedging, privacy screening, windbreaks, and ornamental groundcover.
In countries with a tropical climate it is used for many purposes such as construction, clothing, flooring, bicycles, furniture, yarn and fabrics, knitting needles, carved and decorative arts and crafts objects, wind chimes, bedding and towels, bridges, walking sticks, chopsticks, food, toys, fencing, buckets, canoes, fishing rods, paper, martial arts weapons, and tattoo needles. Learning about bamboo is fascinating and fun!
Bamboo can also be forced into different shapes when it is growing if the young shoots are grown through a square tube for example, or curled into a corkscrew shape.
New plants can be progagated by division, layering, cuttings, or growing from seed. See my page on propagation methods.
Environmentally Friendly
Bamboo is a hugely versatile material with the additional benefit of being a very environmentally friendly product.
Because of its high leaf surface area, it is very efficient at the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and the generation of oxygen in its place. Eco-friendly bamboo is an extremely fast growing grass which means harvesting can take place every 3-5 years when it has become sufficiently woody and strong, unlike the growing period of more than 25 years for most wood, and 50 years to mature some hardwoods.
Although the growing process of bamboo is fast and eco-friendly, there is still debate about exactly how eco-friendly the treatment and manufacturing processes are.
When you buy from Ethical Superstore you get a choice of marvelous products from all over the world
More...
To expand on your interest about bamboo, follow these links for more specific information and guides on each subject or product. Alternatively, use the navigation at the top left of the pages to browse other sections of this site...
- Site Map
- Bamboo Plants
- Bamboo Plant FAQ
- Bamboo Garden
- Bamboo Water Garden Fountain
- Bamboo Wind Chimes
- Bamboo Clothing
- Bamboo Sheets and Bamboo Towels
- Bamboo Flooring
- Bamboo Furniture
- Bamboo Rug
- Bamboo Blinds
- Bamboo Indoor Fountain
- Bamboo Fishing Rods
- Bamboo Pictures
- Bamboo Crafts
- Chinese Bamboo Products
- Bamboo Construction
- Bamboo Books