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Bamboo Types

All bamboo are members of the grass family (Poaceae). There are 128 genera of bamboo, each of which consists of many species. There are 1,718 recognized species of bamboo in all. It is worth noting that Heavenly Bamboo is not one of them. It isn’t a bamboo at all. This illustration provides some bamboo vocabulary.

Clumping Bamboo

Cephalostachyum

These bamboo like forests in elevations ranging from 1500 feet to a little over a mile in altitude. They are native to the Andaman Islands, Bangladesh, Assam, South-Central China, East Himalayas, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Tibet and Vietnam.

Fargesia

Some species of Fargesia, mostly found in alpine conifer forests, are among pandas' favorite foods. They are medium to small bamboos native to China, East Himalaya, Hainan, Inner Mongolia, Qinghai, Tibet and Vietnam. In China they are known as 'jian zhu' (arrow bamboo).

Otatea

Native to Colombia, El Salvador, Honduras and Mexico, Otatea bamboo grows on the Pacific slopes and on the slopes of the Gulf of Mexico between 660 feet and over a mile in altitude.

Running Bamboo

Chimonobambusa

Native to Assam, China, East Himalaya, Japan, Myanmar, Taiwan, Tibet and Vietnam, Chimonobambusa has swollen nodes with thorns. They have three branches at the nodes

Semiarundinaria

Semiarundinaria is a genus of tall or shrubby running bamboos. The species is found in temperate and subtropical regions of China and Japan.

Pseudosasa

Pseudosasa are small to medium running bamboo, native to China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam. The Japanese species, Pseudosasa japonica, differs from the rest by having very persistent culm sheaths and a solitary spreading branch at each node rather than 3 very erect branches.

Phyllostachys

Of all the bamboo shown so far, Phyllostachys is perhaps the most useful. Native to China, its culms have a tendency to zigzag from node to node. They also have a distinct groove (sulcus) above each branch-bearing node. Its culm sheaths fall off quickly. Phyllostachys is very strong and is a major source for construction and handicrafts. Its pulp is made into paper, and its shoots are an important food source.

Bamboo Uses

Architectural

Woody bamboo like Phyllostachys is strong enough to be used for building structures like this bridge.

A rather more modern use in architecture is this recently built pavilion in Taiwan.

This school in Indonesia is another example of bamboo's flexibility and usefulness.

UNESCO estimates that about 1 billion people live in houses built from bamboo. A bamboo stand of 70 hectares (about 173 acres) can provide enough material to construct 1,000 homes, not counting this home for bees

Or this cricket cage.

A Plethora of Other Items

Furniture is made from bamboo as well as kitchen utensils, musical instruments, and a host of other products. Even paper and fabrics can be made from bamboo.

Food and Medicine

Some animals love bamboo, especially pandas in China, red pandas in Nepal, and bamboo lemurs in Madagascar. The leaves of some species are used for feeding livestock. The shoots of a handful of bamboo species can be eaten by humans and are very popular vegetables in many Asian countries.

Bamboo shoots contain high amounts of protein, carbohydrates, vitamins and fiber. There are health benefits, too, including weight loss and balanced cholesterol. It has anti-inflammatory properties. Fresh shoots contain toxins such as cyanide and must be properly prepared before eating. Canned shoots are fine, but be cautious of pickled varieties.

The best bamboo shoots for eating (assuming they are one of the right species) are ones harvested while still underground or just emerging. The shorter and younger the shoot, the more delicious it will taste.

The photo below is of a shoot that I once pealed to get to the edible core. Layer after layer of outer material must be removed first, much like an artichoke except that only the core is edible. Material removed from the shoot starts at the top left of the two rows of items in the photo and ends at the bottom right. The circled item is the edible part. The larger shoot to the right is a shoot (a different one) before pealing starts.

Once the edible part of the shoot is available, it is typically sliced into sections, prepared for eating (i.e., remove toxins), and cooked. It has a mild flavor and goes well when mixed with other foods.

Artwork

Yanagisawa Kien, (1703 – 1758)

Born into the powerful Yanagisawa clan, Kien became an essayist, calligrapher, poet, and tea master. He developed an interest in art at an early age and initially studied with the Kanō school. Eventually, Kien became a noted nanga (southern school) artist whose specialty was bamboo paintings. Few of his paintings have survived, but they were much copied. It is not known when Rock and Bamboo, below, a hanging scroll, was painted.

Shibata Zeshin (1807 – 1891)

Zeshin's reputation as an artist in Japan is complex, being regarded as both too modern, adopting Western painting styles, and too conservative at the same time. He stood out in one particular by developing a unique method of applying lacquer to paper, leading him to be called Japan's greatest lacquerer. The bamboo shoot painting below, done in the 1880s, is lacquer on paper.

Kawanabe Kyōsai (1831 – 1889)

Though not a pupil of Hokusai's (), Kyōsai is thought of as Hokusai's greatest successor. The bamboo shoot ukiyo-e below was originally published in 1881. This version was reprinted from the original blocks in 2008.